A deputation from thirty towns of the North waited on
Lord Spencer on Monday, to complain of the restrictions on the import of foreign cattle. They stated that in con- sequence of those restrictions the trade was declining, the import of sheep and cattle for 1879 having been 2,986,000, against 3,043,000 in 1878; and that the number of English sheep and cattle was declining also. There were 6,012,000 cattle in England in 1875, and only 5,856,004) in 1879; while the sheep had fallen from 29,167,000 to 28,157,000. The cost of the restriction laid on the consuming public was not less than £16,000,000 a year. Lord Spencer, in reply, made a very long speech, giving the history of the restrictions, and showing that he had no power under the Act to relax them, as regarded any country where disease existed. He feared it did exist in America, and he could not, therefore, make the relaxation most asked for. He regretted the slow growth of the trade in dead meat, but observed that English flocks and herds had under the restrictions become comparatively healthy.
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