Mr. Roosevelt to Mr. Olney.

No. 740.]

Sir: I have the honor to inclose herewith copies of the diseases of animals act, 1896, as passed, together with copies of the act of 1894, which it amends—and I am informed, in reply to an inquiry made by me at the British board of agriculture, that the amended act comes into operation on January 1, 1897.

The act as amended deprives the Department of Agriculture of the power of suspending altogether the prohibition against the importation of cattle alive into the United Kingdom; but in no way affects their importation and slaughter on landing (as has been the practice with American cattle since 1879), under the provisions of Schedule III of the act of 1894, which remain in force; provided always that foot and mouth disease, or rinderpest, shall not have been declared to exist in the country from which the cattle are exported.

Of course there is always a possibility of an increased stringency in the regulations applicable to cattle after landing and before slaughter—which might so interfere with the trade that profitable importation would be well-nigh impossible, but no change in the existing regulations has, up to the present time, occurred.

I have, etc.,

James R. Roosevelt.
[Page 363]

Diseases of Animals Act, 1896.

(59 & 60 Vict.)

(Ch. 15.)

Chapter 15.—An act to amend the diseases of animals act, 1894.

(20th July, 1896.)

Be it enacted by the Queen’s Most Excellent Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Lords, spiritual and temporal, and Commons, in this present Parliament assembled, and by the authority of the same, as follows:

1. (1) For section twenty-four of the diseases of animals act, 1894, shall be substituted the following section, namely:

“The provisions set forth in Part I (slaughter at port of landing) of the third schedule to this act shall apply to all foreign animals other than—

(a)
Foreign animals, the landing of which is for the time being prohibited by order of the board of agriculture; and
(b)
Foreign animals intended for exhibition or other exceptional purposes, and the landing of which is allowed for the time being by the board, subject to the provisions of Part II (quarantine) of the third schedule to this act.”

(2) Section twenty-six of the diseases of animals act, 1894, is hereby repealed.

2. This act shall come into operation on the first day of January next after the passing hereof.

3. This act may be cited as the diseases of animals act, 1896, and shall be construed as one with the diseases of animals act, 1894, and that act and this act may be cited together as the diseases of animals acts, 1894 and 1896.

Section 24 of the diseases of animals act, 1894, amended by the diseases of animals act, 1896.

foreign animals.

24. The provisions set forth in Part I (slaughter at port of landing) of the third schedule to this act shall apply to all foreign animals other than—

(a)
Foreign animals the landing of which is for the time being prohibited by order of the board of agriculture;
(b)
Foreign animals the landing of which is allowed by order of the board without being subject to the provisions of this act to slaughter or quarantine; and
(c)
Foreign animals intended for exhibition or other exceptional purposes, and the landing of which is allowed for the time being by the board subject to the provisions of Part II (quarantine) of the third schedule to this act.

Section 26 of the diseases of animals act, 1894, repealed by the diseases of animals act, 1896.

foreign animals.

26. In relation to foreign animals other than those the landing whereof is for the time being prohibited by order of the board of agriculture, and other than those brought from the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man, if and so long as the board are satisfied with respect to any country out of the United Kingdom or any specified part of such country that the laws thereof relating to the importation and exportation of animals, and to the prevention of the introduction or spreading of disease, and the general sanitary condition of animals therein, are such as to afford reason able security against the importation therefrom of diseased animals, the board, by order, shall allow animals, or any specified kind of animals, brought from that country, or such part to be landed without being subject to the provisions of the third schedule to this act, as to slaughter or quarantine, and may for that purpose alter or add to those provisions as the case may require.

Provided, that the admission of such animals shall be subject to such regulations as to the route by which the animals are conveyed to this country, quarantine, or otherwise, as the board of agriculture may by order direct.

The third schedule, Part I, referred to in sections 24 and 26 of the diseases of animals act, 1894, and in section 1 of the diseases of animals act, 1896.

Diseases of Animals Act, 1894.

(57 & 58 Vict.)

(Ch. 57.)

The third schedule.

foreign animals.

Part I.—Slaughter at port of landing.

1.
The animals shall be landed only at a part of a port defined for that purpose by order of the board of agriculture, to be called a foreign animals’ wharf.
2.
The animals shall be landed in such manner, at such time, and subject to such supervision and control as the commissioners of customs direct.
3.
The animals shall not be moved alive out of the wharf.