I would like to state for the information of the House that from 1894 up to 1922 there was always a sum voted in the British House of £140,000 annually to cope with contagious diseases. There was £40,000 of this set aside to stamp out swine fever. There was £100,000 put at the disposal of the Ministry to stamp out other diseases. When we were legally an integral part of the United Kingdom and when we had a visitation, as we had here in 1912, of which I have sad memories, because nearly everyone engaged in the trade then suffered immense losses, and when we were restricted for a considerable time before the disease was stamped out, compensation was paid, and I have received from the Department of Agriculture a return of the amount of compensation that was paid from 1914 to 1923. This is a return showing the number and kind of animals and the amount paid to owners, inclusive. In 1914 the amount paid for cattle was £1,119; for swine, £380. In 1921 the amount paid was £197; and at Holyhead £585 was paid. The total amount paid was £2,281 17s. 8d. There was nothing paid since the Free State Act was passed for the recent outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease, and the owners in those cases had to stand the whole loss, which was very considerable. In one case in particular brought to my notice a man lost £456 on 50 head of cattle. I want to contrast the position of a man in the live stock trade here with that of the man on the other side. Of that £140,000 that was voted from 1894 up to 1922, Ireland, whenever disease broke out, got a share; but in 1922, when foot-and-mouth disease was rampant through Great Britain, in that year alone the compensation awarded to owners for the slaughter of cattle in Great Britain amounted to the sum of £751,000. The grant was then no good, and here is a statement made by the new Minister for Agriculture, Mr. Buxton, as to what they did. I hope it will be a headline for our Ministry.
"The Minister explained that the resolution would pave the way for a Bill to meet the costs of the present visitation of foot-and-mouth disease, which had proved very much in excess of the statutory limitation. The outbreak in 1922 had cost £751,000. The Government of that day decided to depart from the usual practice, and that only one-half of the cost should be defrayed from Imperial Funds, leaving the remaining half to be borne on local funds. In regard to the present epidemic, the late Government had to decide what should be done to pay for it, and, not long before they left office, it was agreed that the greater part of the expense should be borne by the Exchequer. The present Government had decided to follow that procedure. Of the maximum sum of £140,000 which by the Act of 1894 might be devoted annually to defray the cost on diseases of animals, £40,000 had always been kept back for swine fever, so that only £100,000 was left for dealing with other diseases. This outbreak had cost the enormous sum—comparatively speaking—of £3,250,000. It was proposed that the share of the expenditure chargeable to the Local Taxation Account, in the case of England, should be limited to a sum estimated at £250,000. The amount chargeable to the Local Taxation (Scotland) Account would be 12-88ths of the share borne by the English account. In view of the possible contingency that it may be necessary to exceed next year the amount allowed by Statute, it was proposed to remove the limitation for two years."
As you see there, the British Ministry, with the exception of the £250,000 that is going to be raised out of the Imperial Exchequer, have paid the huge amount of £3,000,000 to British owners for compensation for losses sustained by the slaughter of animals. We are in a very chaotic condition in this country at the present time, and that is due to a fact that men in the trade do not know exactly where they stand. They know well that the British will accept no responsibility for losses sustained, even though the disease is contracted, as it has been, in Great Britain; and the fact that, despite all the attempts made by enemies of this country and of the trade to try and instil into the minds of the British public that we are cloaking up the disease, we have proved—thanks to our efficient Board of Agriculture—that this country has the cleanest bill of health of any country in the world so far as live stock is concerned.
It is very disheartening to men engaged in the industry, who have for a number of years done their best to make it flourish and prosper, to be rendered nervous by reason of the fact that prevailing conditions are not in any way satisfactory. I bring forward this motion in order to focus the attention of the Executive Council, and especially the Minister for Agriculture, on the fact that something must be done, and done quickly. Otherwise great hardships are going to be inflicted upon the trade. Often times great losses are incurred by those engaged in the export trade, and also by the farming community.
Deputies can well realise the effect in this country of a disease that has spread like a prairie fire all over England, and of the spasmodic outbreaks at the ports. Often times it has occurred that when an outbreak takes place in England a wire is sent to those engaged in the export trade here, acquainting them of the outbreak and the fact that animals have to be slaughtered. That immediately causes a lot of persons in this country to abstain from buying, and cattle drop from £2 to £5 a head often. Not alone is the exporter hit, but the farming community suffers, and the man who suffers worst of all is the man who is raising store cattle.
This industry is larger and more important than many realise. I desire to show the Dáil the extent of this industry by quoting portion of the evidence given by Mr. T. P. Gill at a Commission of Inquiry into the removal of the embargo on Canadian cattle. No doubt you are all aware Mr. Gill was over twenty years Secretary of the Department of Agriculture. In his evidence he stated that: "The total cattle herd in Ireland had been increased in twenty years by over half a million head; the annual supply to Great Britain has been increased by 125,000 head. But the improvement in quality—their quality as beef, and as early maturers and quick fatteners—has been recently estimated as representing an intrinsic value, irrespective of market fluctuations, of £5 a head. In 1920 Ireland had only ten per cent. of the population. She had 43 per cent. of the cattle in the United Kingdom. She consumes less than one-quarter of the cattle she produces; the rest are sent to Great Britain. Two out of every five beef cattle slaughtered in Great Britain before the war were born in Ireland. During the period of the war Ireland sent to Great Britain 3,862,223 cattle, and none were lost through submarine action."
Now, I hope that I have convinced Deputies that it is absolutely necessary something should be done in the near future. I hope the Minister for Agriculture will give this motion his support. If he does not see his way to give it the support that the members of the live stock trade expect, I would like to know what the Government propose to do. Now that we are not pooled with Great Britain so far as the expenses of the Diseases of Animals Act is concerned, I would like to know if, since the Treaty, any separate sum has been set aside under that Act to cope with contagious diseases here, such as foot-and-mouth disease and swine fever. If there has been, I think the Minister would be quite justified in compensating owners for losses sustained, the same as owners were paid out of the British Exchequer in days gone by. The trade want the Government here to accept responsibility and pay compensation for losses sustained by exporters until the licence is issued after the detention period of ten hours is completed. Then, after that, representations should be made to the British authorities to pay compensation out of their funds.
