FOOT-AND-MOUTH : CURE OR KILL ?
[To, the Editirr of THE SPECTATOR.] SIR,—One of the arguments in favour of the killing policy is that our export of live cattle to foreign countries depends largely on our comparative freed= from foot-and-mouth disease. In view of this argument it may interest some readers to know that ten years ago I stayed for a time on the coast of Chile, with a farmer who imported considerable numbers of Frisian cattle from Holland, On my asking whether he ever imported British cattle, he replied that he had long since ceased to do so. He told me that attacks of foot-and-mouth disease are of frequent occurrence in Chile. Cattle imported from Great Britain usually die when infected, or on recovery are so enfeebled as to be useless. Cattle from the Continent, on the other hand, usually make a good recovery as they possess some degree of immunity, inherited from ancestors that have been permitted to recover from the disease and subsequently bear offspring.—Yours, &c., W. BALFOUR GOURLAY. 7 Millington Road, Cambridge.
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