THE ALLEGED CATTLE PLAGUE.

Hawke's Bay Weekly Times, Volume 1, Issue 15, 15 April 1867, Page 85

THE ALLEGED CATTLE PLAGUE.

[Albury Banner, March 16.] Naturally; and as might 4 be expected, the. remarks we made iii a; former issue have attracted a large amount.of attention with reference to the sup posed , existence of a disease or murrain, particularly, in sheep,, but incidentally affecting cattle on the. border of the Murray river at Albury. Both Victoria and Neiv' South Wales have* taken prompt measures for' tepott by official means ; and , while it is gratifying to find; that good, intentions are evinced in behalf of the safety of the health ol the general public, still it does riot by any'means follow that the' true state of things should be warped , and distorted by. palpable misrepresentation. We are not at all anxious to have'it thought that ftur sheep and cattle; are •uffering from “ Cumberland ” or any other disease. We' would, on the conpray to be delivered, and spared from such a plague, or anything approaching it in form or feature- -But when there is the., slightest intimation of ;the approach of any calamity, it is the duty of those, W'ho gather facts .to report them, in order, that prudential measures may be,' adopted'; for-public sdfeiy.; question, or anybody’s question, But orie for tbie general commonwealth.; If tsheep die 'under peculiar circumstances;, and if those 4 die who have been associated with them,'leith(Br; in traffic,! driving, or liandlirig, .either aliye or'dead; it, would be mostreprehensible ito repress;;the fact. There may •be an objeet to keep il c in the. background' by cerfain per eons, for an ..object, but when.; brqad facts have to,. be, stated and referred to he, chance of„ contradiction, the matter assumes, another aspect ,altogether.. If tlure be no ; disease we shall be as glad to-' have it settled" arid ddtefmiried as ( ariy*dne; but so soon as thjßre is a, chance .of danger w© are _en*. titled to call to -the fact arid demand the best means of ' protection. isj eyen a pf 1 our daily food danjgero'us t , toT those Xwhq;. eat it, °hce caution ; and;.advise abstinence 'there* froin.- ' Wef have heard''that' 4 pleuro 1 - the J.tforistitixtions whp; consume ,it. So it-may. be with mutton with possibly thefGumberland diseaseV but wri would have pohe oJfeitber.v!ft panic atrallj and suppose^hs^hhd^Melboufnh'Tiefalddoes; : - : ’‘!“®h^ri^inihttqri^fgthdir.^dri^'.isahegpt?’ wihattdh : but to sell it to Victoria?

Uad rio market; there the pfices would ci^ted^and It'aworse 1 t 'aworse viriflicted. To• mij up ; M'Culloclij the;v■ Colonial Secretary of Victoriat; Mumbo-'J "Shakespeare’s statement iof"-facts and the ij deceaae of jthose whose death has been’the result of-‘adiriitted * 1 rind;'welhkrioWri cirfcumsfaripfes; ‘is Jndt'fto : bripkssed ’ over without 1 comment.' But this is iiot all.. -We have plain facts on the one:side which we should b.e.;Sorry to, exaggerate. .We would-rather have not-to record them at all."" On the other side we find the facts distorted and misrepresented by Government officials,-arid;, whentve qudte and call attentipri tb! the official reports,, every one, here at least, will see. the force of the ireasoning. ! The .Victorian Government sent up a gentleman, named Inspector Perry, to report to the Chief Inspector, of Sheep. This gentleman came to Albury last Saturday ; we saw him personally, gave him the facta as they hap come to our knowledge, put him in the way of obtaining more ; and the following.: is the report laid before the Victorian Parliament :

Copy of Telegram from Mr Inspector Perry, at Chiltern, to Result of' my- Inquiries at Albury respecting Kelly!s Sheep.,—Drs. Hutchison and Baker,-of •Albury, attended the late Jdr Layton. Both gentlemen state he suffered from animal poison, hut whether from cattle or sheep I believeto bean open question. Dr. Hesker also stated that two of the men engaged by the late Kelly in driving sheep came to; hun for advice, suffering:. from wounds, shomug symptoms of animal poison. No ill effects have come Under those gentlemen’s ’notice, nor could I learn of any'from eating the meat;; although:.a considerable number ..were slaughtered and sold there.. Erom information I believe there ate reasonable grounds to fear the existence of disease in both; sheep and; cattle, hut have failed to trace anything decisive.

Now, following the words; of the report; it is almost needless to say that there is no such person as Dr. Baker, of Albury, anti that he and Dr. Hutch inson could not say that the cause: of death was an open question. Mr Lay? tonwas' attended by alt the medical faculty in Albury, and no doubt was expressed as to the cause of his death. With regard to no effects arising from eating the meat, or of its being sup: posed to be 1 unfit for. use, we have several instances, ali Bough fortunately death has not resulted except, from handling in the way of dressing. -We have been told of a side of sheep salted down at night beirig rotten the riext dayVrind of , other persons being affected with illness-who partook of mutton at that period/ and it does not follow'that because a Mr Perry may visit Albury and not find half the’ people dead or dying, that his unfaithful report i 3 to be ta,keri! as gospel. But to proceed, ‘‘ TB©, Secretary to, the ~Local Board of Health, at Beech worth; writes to the Central Board of Health", that the report referred to exaggerated; The simple factj.of, the case, were that a man named Kelly , was driving sheep froin. Wagga Wagga to Albury in most inclement weather,- and sleeping out in the bush.;! He took ill 1 and died, and a post examination showed that death resulted ..from organic disease.” Kelly was not driving the sheep in most inclement ' weather, nor was any postmortem examination held at all, showing, that death resulted from organic disease. “Mrs Kelly then went after the sheep, and she too had to sleep “ out in stormy, weather. She got the sheep to Beechwortb, ©rid there took, ill. anil died ; but a postmortem, examination showed that death from organic disease of the kffineys.” r This Is'equally incorrect; for .'rip 'lpost-mtiriem’ examination was held, but ; Mrs. Kelly; yiras . brought to Albury, and buried quietly by the side of 'her husband without a ; suspicion at the time of anything but deatn from natural 'causes; until- new circumstances arose. 7 ' 1 The report goes .on to sriy ri'aitted'. bought of the .sheep from Kelly; He; proceeded to-i kill! them, rind it was ';Bupposed that s6me of the Mo^vini^t^aire!; : access to hiri pustulesaroßeoubis.handjanriihistarm heganiftbasdenfromithehandupwards.

apiria^il, ;into |he! sy3€eriQf. , *Here again the facts are .misrepresented! Mr Layton skinned; the carcase and exa.mined the sheep 4 to find the - cause of;death on Tuesday, and he himself died ririlthe Saturday following, so that the -three days before feeling the (effects arid ithe f six days l “ afterwards are all iriattrirs 4 of inventiori/,; Nor was thrive any, post mortem exrimmatiqn' in this case at all. , He,!was .Buried tße next: day, and the medical science in A.lbury do not hesitate to say that his death resulted from animal poison. The true facts are these, and they were amply sufficient to entitle public attention to be called to them. Some sheep were purchased by Kelly, who died suddenly whilst driving them. A shepherd died in the hospital at Wagga VVagga after tweuty-fonr.hours’ illness, and a magisterial enquiry -was hdlden by Mr Baylis, the police magistrate; two shepherds who assisted' to bring the flock on were attacked with illness, suffered from ulcers and were attended by Dr Hester, who also attended Mr Layton. Mrs Kelly went to Beechworth and died, and in all cases the same symptoms were exhibited, although fortunately not fatal in all the instances." Soine of the sheep died ou the road, and curiously enough the same symptoms exhibited themselves iu all who were supposed to be affected by- the . alleged contagion as those ex : perienced by the unfortunate animals. To this we have to add that an in habitant who was performing one of the last services to Mr Layton; and who happened to have a wound on his hand, was also affected, but taking the matter in time, got medical assistance and recovered. . .Further than this we can learn that cattle who have beeu grazing on the same ground have died since; and therefore it becomes a much ,more serious question than: Mr Perry or secretaries of Boards may imagine. It may be Cumberland disease or not; those are the plain facts, and without wishing to be alarmists on this point yye want to be protectionists. It. is well known that sheep have been dying in. numbers in other parts of the, district, and we know that reports to our own Government, from our own. officers, will confirm the statement. The disease appears to be one affecting the spleen or melt of the animal,, causing it to be gorged with a black watery mucus; indeed, a butcher who had to do with some of these sheep* and who opened a beast whieh died afterwards under similar circumstances, expressed his opinion that it was what, was known in England as the “ black water disease.” ; All that we know. is.that public alarm exists, and if more people are not sufferers it may arise froin the caution they have used after a knowledge; of these facts on the spot. * Beyond this we require protection to public health and property, and we can add that we are by no means sorry that the balance of the flock has gone to a colony where they will be likely to be speedily consumed, arid we trust that our Victorian neighbors will enjoy them, and suffer no bad results. More than that* we desire that we may have no more of the' same kind to send; them, and that the flock in question -will be the end of the danger when disposed of.