Farmers’ Club Deputation.

Patea Mail, 25 January 1882, Page 3

Farmers’ Club Deputation.

SCAB IN SHEEP. The Premier, Mr Hall, passed through Patea yesterday, on his way to the North, as already reported. A deputation from the Patea District Farmers’ Club was got up hastily by Mr C. F. Barker, to represent local opinion on the necessity of more effectual protection against the spread of scab in sheep. As many members and settlers as could be seen in a short interval were invited to attend, and Mr Barker went to much trouble in the matter.

' .The., deputation, were received by the Premier in the , room of the Club, and comprised Messrs Barker, Honeyfield, Wl C. Symes/ Morgan, Norman, Coutts, m Derret, Tennent, , M’Rae, Bright, Norman, Eyton, &c. Mr Barker introduced .the deputation, and,said the Club wished to bring under his notice the unsatisfactory working, of the Scab Act, by failing to prevent the spread of disease in‘this district. It was not sought to attach blame" fco' any one, but a remedy was ; extremely / desirable. Mr Barker mentioned the outbreak at Hawera, caused apparently by a flock of 2,000 infected sheep coming from Wanganui. A commission of inquiry might get at the facts and devise a remedy, and the commission should put itself in communication with the Farmers’ Club, to get the benefit of local experience. , , Mr Derrett urged the necessity of something being done, i Mr Symes spoke to the same effect,; gnd instanced the outbreak in, their flock.'’ j The Premier said the unsatisfactory reports from this district had been under his notice, and the chief inspector of tlie colony (Mr Bailey) had been instructed with another officer to make an enquiry in this.district. .-He would pee that • they communicate with the Farmers’ Club. I Premier: The fact that you have a good deal of rain in winter would not help to clean the land. It would keep (he infection on the ground.

MrSymes: , The frosts .here are not sufficient to hurt anything. Premier: Mr . Bailey is appointed inspector for the whole colony, and we may hope for better results by his following out some efficient plan for eradicating scab, as well as dealing with the rabbit nuisance. Have you got any of those blessings here—the rabbits ? Mr Barker: We haven’t got that blessing;’ Premier ; You had better look out for them: they piny' the mischief. (Laughter.) The only difficulty in cleaning sheep is to get them properly mustered. Mr Symes : ’ Mine was about as rough a piece of country as any on the coast. lii¥d'my sEeep boiled down, and got rid of the scab that way. The coastline is full jof!; high toi, and sheep are not. easy, to muster.. : ;■■ ,r Premier: If you leave two or three sheep out from the master, it is no use. One or two scabby sheep are enough to infect a farm. Mr Barker: This matter of the Hawera outbreak will be looked into; at once, I suppose/ because, the facts are fresh in people’s, minds. ; Premier : The only thing is the engagement of Mr Bailey, who is carrying out the Rabbit Act, and that, is very urgent., He was in Wellington yesterday, and I told him to make this inquiry as soon as he could. It is. most important that he should get the machinery complete as soon as possible for putting' down' the rabbit nuisance ; and as soon as he can get away from that, he is to come here to make this inquiry. , Mr M’Rae; I was speaking to him yesterday, and he said he-intended to leave for Wanganui to-day or to-morrow if possible. Premier: Then he will; be up here, in the course of. the week. .. I Will tell him the further reason there is for enquiry ; namely, these two thousand sheep that have come into this district from Wanganui. I see the Taranaki district is proclaimed clean now. Mr Derrett: I don’t know that is any guarantee. Yon see Wanganui has been declared free. , Psemier: However, we will do our best. You cannot have anyone who is more anxious to assist in an object of that kind than I am.

Mr Barker": That was my reason for inviting you to receive this deputation. , Mr Honeyfield: Is it likely that the control of sheep inspectors will be placed under County Councils ? The inspectors would then Rave somebody to look after them who were interested in keep-’ ing a district clean, and they would be kept up to their work.

Premier: There are two sides to that story. You may have a majority of a Council consisting of people who have got scabby sheep; i We found, for; instance, in Marlborough that so long as the Act was under local management there were no decided steps taken to eradicate scab; but since the Act has been under the management of an lur spector who. is independent of the local people, very great progress has been made. I don’t think it would be wise to put this Act under local management. Besides,’ scab is a disease that affects not only one county, and it is hardly fair to allow the other counties to suffer through the neglect of one .county. The question of scab in any part of this island affects the rest of the, island-;, .therefore the Act should be under the control of .Government. Although we have been unfortunate here, still on the whole the Act is working well; and now that we have got an officer as head inspector for the whole colony, I hope’ the Act will work better. ..... . The deputation thanked the Premier/ and withdrew.