STALLIONS' REGISTRATION BILL

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1864, 25 September 1913, Page 10

STALLIONS' REGISTRATION BILL

A SOUTHERN CRITIC. In tho courso of an interview with a "Press" reporter, a Christchurch veterinary surgeon, who was until lately in the Government employ, offered the following criticisms oil the proposed Stallions -Registration Bill. In the first place, he said that the Bill did not apply to thoroughbreds and ho wondered why not. Tho farmer used tho blood horso or thoroughbred for many purposes, and yet it was not included in the' Bill at all. On tho other hand, lie gathered from a draft copy of the' Bill which he possessed, that trotting st-al-lions.would hot be exempt. With few exceptions, he thought the trotting stallion, was. only used to get racing stock, and it. might have been left out of tho Bill with far less danger than the blood horse.'

The second point that ho mentioned was this: '.'The Bill," he said, "is compulsory. 'Oil the first day of _ May in every year the owner of an entire horse ovor twenty-four months of age must aßply' for an examination, and must forward £1 to tho Department of Agriculture to cover the cost of the examination. The examiners are to be two Government voterinary sjirgcons. When stallions aro imported iitto Now Zealand they may bo accompanied by a certificate from a qualified voterinary surgeon, which certificate is accepted and approved by the Department, yet apparently tho Department will not accept .a. certificate from a qualified veterinary surgeon in private practice in New Zealand, though they will accept a certificate from a man 16,000 miles away. "Clause 9 of tho Bill, which refers'to disputes, seems to mo very ambiguous. An owner, if lie is dissatisfied with the Government vets.' decision, can appeal to the Chief Veterinary Officer, 'who can order a re-examination, the examining vets, to bo accompanied by a veterinary surgeon nominated by the owner. It does not appear that the vet. iiominat«l by tho owner has any say in the matter. Anyway, tho surgeons' examining the second time report to tho Chief Veterinary Surgeon, whoso decision is final. This practically means that thero are three Government men to the ono private man, so whatever the latter's opinion is, b would bo over-ruled and would stand a poor chance.

• "Yet another- point. : I should like very much to know whether every stallion owner iu New Zealand knows, if tho. Bill becomes law, that if he owns a stallion over twenty-four months of age and uses him for stud purposes for a fee without a' : certificate or license, that ho immediately becomes liable to a fine of £50. This seems a bit stiff to me, and I think that every owner of .a stallion should bo fully aware of the fact. The whole crux of the Bill is the schedule of diseases, and ii\ my; opinion this schedule wants revising badly to bring it into line with other countries. Horses may pass this examination, and gain their certificate, but that certificate will not admit theiii' into Australia or any other country'on such a schedule. "For instance, if a man used a horse for a season in New Zealand with the necessary license, and at the end of the season if ho wanted to export the horse ho would have to get him reexamined because tho No. 20 schedule is not so stringent as the Australian one. The only defect in the hind limb for which a horse can be rejected, ac"cording to the No. 20 schedule, is bono spavin; Bog spavin, thoroughpin, and curb aro all passed, and the following position might quito easily occur: — Farmer A might have a horse which is used for stud purposes and which to all appearance is absolutely sound, but on examination bi' a veterinary surgeon he proves to be very slightly affected in the wind. , Farmer B, his neighbour, has a 'horse which is suffering from bog spavin, thoroughpin, and curb, but his horse will receive a Government license to travel the district, while A's horse would be rejected. "It is said that.the schedule can easily bo amended to include diseases of tho hock known to be hereditary, but by, starting with tho proposed 'schedule wo shall be all tho time encouraging the breeding of horses with defcctivo hocks. In my opinion the examining surgeons should not be bound down by any hard and fast schedule; but should havo more discretionary _ power allowed them. This course is followed in Australia whero tho veterinary surgeons aro allowed to reject horses for defects in conformation predisposing to hereditary diseases. Surely tho veterinary surgeons in New Zealand aro as capable of exercising their judgment as. the Australian men, and they are as worthy of, trust, also. It is generally admitted that faulty conformation is the direct causo of some disease of tho hock, and it is most important to guard against the cause. I expect by advocating tho schedule in the Bill, it is thought tosafeguard the Government veterinarians from disputes and arguments that might l arise when questions of conformation were considered."