CATTLE TICK.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXIII, Issue 4440, 14 July 1922, Page 1

CATTLE TICK.

ERECTION OF DIPS. THAMES COUNTY ACTS. The alleged cattle tick menace was further discussed at the Thames County Council meeting on Wednesday, Cr. Blackett said he had been speaking to the cattle inspector. The cattle could not he transferred .without the erection of dips. The Government subsidy for the proposed dip would be forthcoming. He had an option over two acres in the Tana township for a dip, and it now remained for the Council to raise the balance of the money, £350 or £4OO. A loan, he considered, could be raised, £2OO each by the Thames and Coromandel counties. It was urgent and the work should be gone on withAn application had now to be obtained to move even their horses. Cr. Niccol thought the settlers had been taking the matter too easy, and they were only realising it now that their cattle were to be locked in. He advised that a committee be appointed to deal with the matter. If the other counties would not come in some means should be obtained to cite them as parties. The chairman said a loan spread oyer a large area would not be a great hardship. The matter should be dealt, with at once, and if the other local bodies saw fit to come in they would be benefited. He thought they should not wait for the other bodies to come in, as the matter was an ungent one. Cr ( . Faithful said the counties in the north would have’ nothing to do with the dips. The Government subsidy to the extent of £l5O, was given and tne settlers had to find the rest.

Cr. Blackett said . that in the Whakatane County eight dips were being erected, costing on an average £5OO, and the county was doing the whole lot. The chairman said it would be in the interests of the whole county if, the Council undertook the erection of the dips. Cr. Cox asked if a poll, would be necessary for the suggested loan. The chairman said that the amount required could be raised without a poh. Cr. Brunton recognised that the dips were essential. SPRAYING INEFFECTIVE. Cr. Blackett said according to the Act spraying would not do. Spraying con Id be carried out as a precautionary measure, but if cattle were to cross the boundary dipping was essential. The chairman said immediate action was essential, no matter what the cost. During this time of the yea” the tick was dormant. September was the breeding time. Cr. Niccol suggested having the stock inspector meet the Council and invite other locaL bodies tp be represented. The clerk (Mr. H. T. G. McElory) said that £lOO was placed on the Council’s last estimates for a cattle dip. It would cost the Council only £2OO, and he suggested it should be paid out of the County funds. It would cost over £5O to r.aise a £2OO loan, and .that was absurd. On Cr. Blackett’s motion a committee was formed, including Crs. .Blackett, Niccol, Faithfull, , and the chairman, with power to act. The clerk reported that the Coromandel County Council had not replied to the Council’s memo inviting a delegate to attend a conference. It was agreed that the Council go on w’th the matter and expect the Coromandel County to find its share.