THE NASAL BOT TROUBLE.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 767, 16 March 1910, Page 10

THE NASAL BOT TROUBLE.

BAST' COAST- IIEPORTS.

In- conversation with a Dominion- representative yesterday, the. Hon.' A.,- T. Ngata, who rims-about twelve thousandsheep at. Port Awajiui, and- is but recently returned from a visit to-the East Coast, said he. had heard nothing of the nasal bot trouble reported in the Gisborne- papers. Mr. Ngata .--said he,, hadhad no trouble of-the sort'.ivith his. own. 6hd6p, and-in fact did iiot Remember to have seen sheep, infested'iwith;'the inag-. got. From the honourable;, gentleman's remarks, it. would appear-' that. the trouble is by no- means so'-'widespread in Poverty Bay as the published reports might leave one to believe. Nasal bot is a well-known and' old-standing trouble with sheep pretty well all over " the world. Every now and then one hears that it is' more than Usually prevalent in such and such a district. In older countries the sheep frequently became very .excited during the attack of- the fly,, but in New Zealand the farmer's first intimation that .his,flock is infected is - often the finding, of the larvae .when splitting open a sheep's head: .-The trouble is -caused :by the sheep' ga'drfly depositing ;its-eggs on the margin-of the sheep's nostrils, from whence the young larvae make . their way through the nasal passages'into the air cavities of the head. During the winter and spring they mature, after ■ which they become detached and are expelled to the ground. Beyond the irritation caused by 'their passage in and out of the head they, cause no harm' to the sheep. The irritation, -however, if prolonged, frequently brings about more or less ,serious loss of condition. Mr. J. A. Gilruth, in one of the Departmental leaflets, says he. has known as. many as thirty-five grubs to exist in the nasal passages of one lamb. The only serious danger is that tho lambs, if badly infested, may take con-vulsions'-with fatal results; such cases, however, appear to be rare. Tho chief sufferer in Poverty Bay this' season seems, to be a sottler £(t Pouawa, about twelve miles north along the coast from Gisborno. He is stated to have 400 sheep affected, many of them being almost beside themselves, though only one or two had died. It is reported that other settlers in the neighbourhood we'ro similarly afflicted, but as Mr. Ngata was only a short 'while ago through the district and heard nothing of anytroublo the attack would appear to be a purely .local one. There is an idea among many, farmers that the grubs s get into , the brain, but this is due to the fact that they are often carried there by the hatchet when splitting the head open.

The Longbnsh correspondent of , tho "Wairarapa.Daily ..Times" writes:—Pigs; are. a drug in the market this year. One supplier has a line of about fifty prime pqrkers, and practically cannot giv6 them away; yet pork is realising, sixponce a pound. He is if freezing the carcasses and sending them Home.