The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1907.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 1973, 8 January 1907, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. TUESDAY, JANUARY 8, 1907.

I Two copiously illustrated pamphlets Were issued from the office of the High Commissioner for New Zealand, IS Victoria Street, Westminster S.W., during the year 1906, the one entitled “Some facts about New Zealand Meat. A Government Guarantee,’’ and the other “New Zealand Meat. How cleanliness and purity are assured. By the Hon. IV. PemberReovcs, High Commissioner for Now Zealand.” The first pamphlet alleges that “All meat exported from New Zealand is guaranteed by a staff of specially qualified Government Inspectors, to be healthy and fit for human food,” and that “these Inspectors are under the control of Mr. J. A. Gilru'th, M.R.C.V.S., Chief Vet- ! erinarian of the colony, twenty of j them being members. of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, London, trained by fhe best known professors in Great Britain in .the principles of moat inspection.” When that was written it was true; to-day it is a lie, becanso, as we have shown in yesterday’s issue, Mr. McNab lias : re-organised the whole system of meat /ind stock inspection; and ho has taken tljg control absolutely out of the hands of Mr, (Jilruth and his I twenty qualified assistants, and placed I it in the hands of unqualified" men, I some of whom have failed to comply with the requirements of jdie lap- as ti the knowledge of the subject that lan Inspector should possess. The I High Commissioner’s pamphlet was ' intended to allay public feeling in England in regard to imported meat from this colony ; but what will be the effect upon the trade when the action of tb.o new Minister for Agriculture is discovered in regard to it? At that time it was necessary to reassure the English consumer,' and iji the other pamphlet the High Commissioner wrote;—“Rigid Inspection— Meat killed for consumption ill tiui larger towns has to he slaughtered iju public abattoirs ,mcat for export I in Gw licensed slaughter-yards of the I 1 1 ozen Meat Companies., To each of these slaughter-yards a departmental Inspector gives his attention. This officer is a qualified person, holding the certificate of the English Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons. He is usually an Englishman by birth and training, who has been carefully selected in this country as a man both of experience and good character. Spice I have represented the Now Zealand Government in London 1 have chosen, with the aid of profes-

sional .experts, some twenty of these Veterinary Surgeons, and despatched them to New Zealand to give their services to the live-stock branch of

our Department of Agriculture.” Now all tliat, is changed, and under the Handy Andy system of re-organisa-tion introduced hy the lawyor-ruriiior-Alinistor-Aluddlor, the qualified In-

spector who knows a piece of diseased meat when he sees it will have to give place to the ignoramus who cannot pass a simple legal test, and all the High Commissioner’s arguments must henceforth fall flat upon the cars t of English consumers. If that does B not simply kill the frozen meat trade t as the Chicago trade was killed, we B very much mistake the sensitiveness . of the market to conditions such as ( we have described. Any sensible Minister would have known that too. and done naught to risk the loss oven to please an overhearing and incompetent Under-Secretary. lint I that is not all. The pamphlet, after describing the Slaughtering and In- 1 spoction Act and its working, goos on to say: “The result is that disease is so rare that it is no uncommon thing-for our Veterinary Surgeons to 1 test whole herds of cattlo without finding ono single “reacting animal, | . and again Air. Gilruth is named as tlio safeguard in this respect, which I he undoubtedly would be if he got 1 the clianco under a sensible system 3 to do what he has so olton emphati- j cally declared to be the right thing to do. Hut what do wo find instead? That after twelve years’ experience of non-professional control in the | Stock Department, such diseases as | contagious abortion and contagious maninitus are rife from North Capo to the Bluff; that the Secretary for

Agriculture and the Minister insist I on preventing the veterinarians doing the right thing to stamp out a'l I thoso diseases, which they would do if allowed, and. that the matter is entrusted to those who, like the Sec- | rotary himself, knows nothing at all about it. For proof of this we have only to state the astounding fact that, the State “Model” farms under the direct control ol the Secretary aio I infested with disease, and the “Model farmers are powerless to cope with it. Two years ago the milking herd I oil the “Model” farm at ltuukura was attacked witli contagious maninitus I and tl«is year there was a serious out- I break of the .disease at the “Model. I State farm at Levin, which the Secretary and his stuff are powerless to cope with. Yet these are the gentlemen who, forsooth, pretend to be able to run a State Agricultural Department and to teach farmers their business. The presumption of the thing is appalling, find so is the seriousness of the position, for downright crass stupidity and wastefulness of public- money is tlio ruling characteristic of the Department’s management from the Minister downwards. Mr. Gilruth has fought against these abuses, lie has done ah that he can do to get them rectified. and for liis pains lie is now put on one side by the Minister, merely to speak when ho is spoken to, while ignorance attempts to COPS with rampant diseases and holds the legal authority. AVliat would fie thought of the matter if the Chief Health Officer wore under the control of the Sanitary Inspectors and they alone legally empowered to diagnose diseases and declare what should be legally done, even to killing the patient ? And yet this is exactly the position

in regard to tile only experts winch the Agricultural Department have in its employ. The thing would not be tolerated for a moment. Most of the Agricultural Societies have importuned the Government to employ none but qualified men in the inspection of meat and stock; hut the Secretary ,wlio cannot keep his “Model”

farm free from serious outbreaks of disease, thinks ho can muddle along alright with Inspectors whose only qualifications for the position is their colossal ignorance of what their duties require of them, and the spineless Minister who would like to bo a farmer instead of ,a lawyer—sees no harm in letting him muddle p>yay. Ho thinks it is the right thing to have three unqualified Inspectors—one inspecting the other—where one qualified Inspector would do good work. He thinks that Mr. Gi)ruth's reputation is now all sufficient to maintain the good name of New Zealand meat in the English markets, ajifl inspection of meat need henceforth lie nothing better than a sham. Ho thinks that “Model" State farms are not tarnished in rejnitation by outbreaks of contageous diseases, which are preventable under decent management, and.may still bo regarded as “Models” for the edification of farmers who want to know what percentage of loss an outbreak of disease might pause; and lie evidently thinks that the proper function of a State Department is to illustrate ])0)y near a man can go to disaster without liav.ing to seek the protection of the Bankruptcy Court in prosperous times, for those, are exactly the examples which the Department is supplying at every turn. But Jiow long, will the country suffer it to go on at its present ruinous expense? That is the question which farmers should ask themselves, and their answer should be an emphatic one.