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170
not being sufficiently deterrent, inasmuch as in a large
proportion of such cases the offence of concealment is never
discovered. The provisions of the Order, moreover, with
respect to the slaughter of glandered horses, were inadequate,
allowing as they did of almost indefinite delay when the
necessities af the case demanded instant action.
It is to be presumed that this unsatisfactory state of things
was due to the fact that the Local Authority were not
authorised—as in the case of pleuro-pneumonia—to slaughter
diseased animals and compensate the owner. This question
of compensation is, I believe, the crux of the mattter, and it
may be doubted whether glanders and farcy will be exterminated
until it is satisfactorily settled. To many a poor man his
draught animal is the means of a livelihood, and it may,
unknown to him, have been affected with glanders when
purchased. It would be but equitable, therefore—if he gave
notice of the disease, as the law enjoins, and consented to
the slaughter, as common sense and the interests of public
and equine health require—that he should be compensated
to an extent, say, of one-half of the value of the animal when
in health. If this were done there could be no objection
to any reasonable severity of punishment for offences against
the law. But glanders may, possibly, be generated de novo
—it is certainly fostered—by insanitary conditions, and if this
be so it will not be got rid of until more than the customary attention
is paid to the sanitation of stables. And why should not
as much care be bestowed, by operation of law if necessary,
upon the construction of stables as in the case of cow-houses ?
More air-space, light, ventilation, and better drainage
arrangements, are required in these places. It will hardly
be questioned that it would "pay," in every way, to treat
horses better than is commonly done, in respect of their home
accommodation, especially having regard to the fact that
insanitary conditions in stables, by reducing the resisting
power of the animal, render him more liable to attack by