THE STOCK CONFERENCE.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1400, 6 November 1886, Page 3

THE STOCK CONFERENCE.

The Stock Conferenc-', which has closed Its session, at Sydney t ansacted a great deal of important business. The object of the Conference was to dncnss the diseases of stock, the rabbit pest, noxious plan's the aesimth t'-on of the stock regulations of the feveral colonies, and a variety of ether subjects relating to pastoral pursuits. 2 very member of the Conference came fuily prepared for Ins work, anothe result was a eerie of discussions which for fulness of information and intellectual grasp have seldom been surpassed. In regard to diseases of stock a great deal cf informati >n was given. The two principal diseases that the stcck in these colonies are subject to are anthrax fever and pleuro-pneumonia. Both are destructive ; but the former is far more to than the latter. Statistics were given showing that the number of sheep carried off every year by this disease is about 100,0C0. Uutil recently there war universal ignorance ooncenog the nature of these diseases and the agencies by which they sre propagated. But through the labors of M. Pasteur, the eminent French scientist, that ignorance haa been removed. Pjeteur dia covered that all diseases that attack men and animals tra produced by microbes, and lli-j-t each disease is caused by a distlmt microbe. The dicovery is one of great importance. M. Pasteur has do voted a great deal of auention to tfce subject cf anthrax fever, and he has explained the whole mystery In connection therewith. By means of a number of experiments, which occupied him several we ka. ho a,o V ained the nan t i I’wbirh the contagion is spread ; and h? has proved to his own satisfaction that inoculation is the best, and, in fact the only preventive o? the directe. On f he question of inoculatii n, the Chief Inspec tor of Stock in this Colony obtained information from EnJand and several other European countries, which ho comirunlcated to the Conference in an inalt active paper. It was ah'wn therein that the system is successful in some places, b t unsuccessful in others. A s milar remark might be made in regard to vaccination for smallpox, but that, would not prove anything against vaccmatlon. It stands to reason that, if the germ theory of disease is true, the method that will prevent one kind of fever will prevent other kinds. In the way which vaccination is a preservative against smallpox, inoculation should be a preservative against Cumberland disease. Inoculation in fact, the sheet anchor of the paatoraliets, and there can hardly be a doubt that in a few years it will be resorted to throughout Australia. The Conference took no definite action with regard to inoculation, but it passed resolutions recommending that it should be made compulsory on stockholders to destroy all beasts suffering from pleuro, and to burn the carcasses of animals th*t may die cf Bnthrsx fever. The coarse advised in the resolutions la necessary for preventing the spread of those diseases, and it should be adopted without hesi'ati n l>v the Government Sydney Mornmg Herald.