HEALTH OF FARM STOCK.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1776, 14 June 1913, Page 22

HEALTH OF FARM STOCK.

PROTECTION AGAINST DISEASE. THE STATE'S VETERINARY SERVICE. Preventing the importation of diseased stock from übroad, checking the spread of disease when.it appears, and generally ensuring that stock shall be kept, slaughtered, and marketed or exported under the healthiest possible conditions, ere very important matters in a country like New Zealand, and it follows that no review of rural progress in the Dominion would bo complete which did not make some mention of the activities of the Government veterinary staff. A brief account of the nature and ecopo of the work carried on by these experts was given by one of their number in the course of an interview.

The veterinary staff, he claimed, had already accomplished a considerable volume of useful work, and had attained a high pitch of organisation. This had been demonstrated in many ways. An outbreak of the' disease known as blackquarter amongst calves in Taranaki had been checked at a comparatively early stage, and prevented from spreading to other parts of the Dominion. There were reasonable prospects of' stamping it out entirely within a few years. Anthrax had been similarly suppressed. Thanks to the quarantine regulations, the country was freo from foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, glanders, and rabies/ and almost tree from anthrax.

11l the important functions which he administers, the Chief Veterinarian is assisted by a staff of about twenty-seven qualified veterinarians, and a small army of stock inspectors and meat inspectors. The stock inspector, as a rule, is the man first called upon by the farmer if tiny disease appears amongst his stock animals. The inspector either gives advice at onco or, if tho caso is serious, calls in tho aid of thu nearest Government veterinarian. If 'necessary, extended investigations are made, and in some instances experts in other binnclies of the Agricultural Department are called upon, as when the. investigation into the causes of bush-sickness necessitated the analysis of soils. Other duties which fall to the lot of the veterinary staff have to do with tho inspection of meat slaughtered for export or for local consumption. At abattoirs in towns having a population of over 2000 and at the meat export slaughterhouses, meat inspectors are permanently . stationed, under tho supervision and control of qmlifted veterinarians. Small local slaughterhouses have to conform in the first place to regulations prescribing tho character of buildings, water supply, and drainage, and soforth, nnd are inspected by the stock inspectors and at intervals by veterinarians. So fa.r, efforts to pass a Bill through tho Now Zealand Parliament providing for the registration of veterinary surgeons have been unsuccessful, but the matter is likely to b? revived before long. While the veterinarians in tho Government Scrvico have to provn their qualifications, and nftny veterinarians practising privately aro also in a position to do soi this docs not apply universally. There are a number of men practising in New Zealand as veterinary surgeons, the veterinarian who was interviewed states, who have no real claim to the title. There was great need, he added, of legislation providing proper standards to which veterinarians might bo required to conform. Tho best qualification at the present time is that conferred by the Royal Collego of Veterinary Surgeons (England). A degree from this institution is recognised in all parts of the world. To obtain the ordinary qualification, the veterinary student Ims to po through a four years' course and on additional year <i{ study is demanded of those who aspire to the degree of Doctor of Veterinary Science. There is also a Veterinary in Melbourne, but there is none in New Zcoland.

Tho irisli Department Agriculture has been carrying out experiments in the manuring of potatoes for 11 years nt 3">3 centres., According to the "Agricultural Gazette/' the, average yield from imliiamired land was I tons per acre, which 15 toils of farmyard manure increased to 8 lons iewt.; 2ft tons of manure, to !) tons 2cwt.; and a combination of t"> tons farmyard manure, Icwt super., li-u-t. nucli n f Gulphutn of ammonia and muriate of potAsb* t4> II) WM I<CWU