FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.

Otago Witness, Issue 4033, 30 June 1931, Page 18

FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE.

OUTBREAK IN SOUTHERN RHODESIA. A striking commentary, on the uncertainty of quarantine precautions against so malignant a scourge as foot-and-mouth disease is provided, by the intelligence that notwithstanding the elaborate care taken at the Port of London Quarantine Station, Southern ■ Rhodesia, which has been drawing large drafts of stock through the station, has been visited by the disease on so extensive a scale that no fewer than 23,000 cases have been reported. ■ Curiously enough, the news of the outbreak is contained in the latest issue of the British Livestock Journal just to hand, which also contains a reference to the work of the Quarantine Station. The two paragraphs are reproduced below. The London Quarantine Station, opened in 1928 by the Empire Marketing Board, and run by the Royal Agricultural Society of England, was established to help over-seas-trade in pedigree stock. Australia, South Africa, Southern Rhodesia, the Irish Free State, West and -Palestine have all taken stock that were passed through the station. In the first year 543 animals were handled, and the second year saw 693 animals go in and out of the station on their way to the dominions and colonies. The station has been consistently filled, and there is a considerable waiting list of animals for export. '

The assisted passages scheme, whereby the Empire Marketing Board and the overseas Government concerned pay the freight costs on pedigree stock exported to Empire countries, has been applied to Australia, British Columbia. Northern and Southern Rhodesia, and Kenya, and large numbers of pedigr-e cattle, sheep. . and pigs have “ emigrated ” under this scheme. So writes Mr- E. J. Grant, of the Empire Marketing Board. The Union Government of South Africi has taken steps to prevent the spread of foot-and-mouth disease,-which has broken out in Southern Rhodesia, some 5Q miles from the Union border, where 23.000 eases are said to have pccin red.

All importations of cattle, sheep, and pigs have been .stopped from .Rhodesia,

and no importations are allowed from the Bechuanaland Protectorate, within 100 miles of the Rhodesian border.

A force .of some 70 extra police has been drafted for patrol duty along the border and. the Zoutpans Berg Mountains,- which form a natural barrier. It will be closely guarded from end to end. The cause of the outbreak had not been ascertained on Monday when London was alarmed to hear of it. The disease is not native to . South Africa, and it is almost a certainty that it must have been imported into the area where the disease appeared—an area devoted to cattle raising. To explore all possible sources of contagion, strict search should be made into the antecedents of packing material - from Europe, the most likely cause of the disease. Southern Rhodesia has never •’before been visited with this disease.