Conference on Scab.

Patea Mail, 3 February 1882, Page 3

Conference on Scab.

The Patea District Fanners’ Club met last evening to confer with Mr Bailey, Chief Inspector, on the means of eradicating sheep-scab from this district, ami on the causes of recent outbreaks. The muster of members was very large, there being present (including a few visitors) Major Turner, in the chair, Mr Wray, R.M., Messrs Chapman, B. B, Hamilton, C. Symos, E. Symes, Hunter (Waverley)> Palmer, Powdrell, Barker, Morgan, Norman, Derrett, A. Young, Honeyfield, Bremer, Horner, Tlawken, Houghton, Ball, Jacob, Nicholson, W. Wilson, Shields, Taplin, Cowern, &c. Mr Hamilton said : I happened to be one of those who bought some of the infected sheep at Hawera. After the outbreak of scab, a meeting was called of those who had bought sheep from the Wanganui flock, and it was thought advisable that Mr Wilson, of Wilson Bros,, and I should go to Wanganui to investigate the matter, or at any rate try to stop its recurrence. We found at Wanganui there would be no difficulty in tracing the farm from which the scabby sheep came, but that there was difficulty as to responsibility for consequences. We consulted on this point Messrs Borlase & Barnicoat and also Mr Fitzherbert, who agreed in this legal opinion, that if the sheep were sold by auction with all faults, and no verbal representation was made as to whether the sheep were diseased or not, the purchasers of those sheep have no right of action against the vendor or the auctioneer. This opinion was based on a decision of the House of Lords in ’7B that where sheep were proved to have been scabby before the sale, yet if no warranty were given, no action could He for recovery of damages. We learnt this from our visit, that unless you go through a certain form of words at the time of purchase, there is no warranty, and damages cannot be re. covered if sheep prove scabby. You should ask whether the sheep are guaranteed clean, or free from disease. If that question is answered satisfactorily, you can afterwards come on the auctioneer or on the vendor, ns you choose. If the Scab Act is not carried out better than it lias been by the inspectors in this district, the same sort of outbreak may occur again at any moment. The sheep that we bought had a dean certificate, and we gave full value for them. They have since proved scabby, and some were scabby to excess, yet they had been examined at Wanganui and were allowed to come here as clean. The Wanganui inspector wired up to the Patea inspector saying the sheep were clean ; and I saw a telegram telling the Patea inspector to give a certificate to the buyers. He did so in the case of Wilson Brothers, but those sheep were afterwards discovered scabby. I bought 200 of them, and I have now to dip some 2,400. I had sold 1000 of my flock, and got a cheque for part of them, but I received a notice from the inspector stopping me from moving them, as the whole flock were declared infected.

Mr Barker : Did you put this point clearly, as to whether a person who sold sheep knowing them to be scabby would be liable? Mr Hamilton ; That is precisely where a difficulty may arise. He then stated particulars of the Wanganui farm from which the infection was supposed to have come, and said the question was one to be further sifted. Mr Barker : Did you get, as a legal opinion, that if you could prove he sold the sheep knowing that an}' portion of his flock was scabby, you would have a right of action against him in this case ? Mr Hamilton : Yes. If we could prove that a seller of sheep had the scab, or had done nu3’thing to conceal the scab, we could sue him. Mr Nicholson : But would not the certificate of the inspector protect the vendor, the certificate stating that they were clean ? Mr Barker: Yes, if he gets a clean certificate, does it not screen the seller? If an inspector gives a certificate that certain sheep in an auctioneer’s yard are clean, are not the auctioneer and the seller thereby protected ? Mr Hamilton : No, if the owner chooses to disguise the fact and say the sheep are clean, it is possible to hoodwink an inspector and he may give a certificate. Mr E. Symes : Would the Government defend the inspector if the sheep were proved not clean ? Mr C. Symes': If that is the case, I don’t see what is the use of having inspectors, because each person can be his

own inspector. Where is the equity of the tiling if you can’t come on the Government servant for giving a wrong certificate ? Mr Hamilton: I put that very question to the lawyer, that I always understood a master was responsible for the actions of his servant. Here we have a gross case of neglect in an officer, and how is it we cannot come on the Government ? The lawyer said it would he rather an expensive luxury to try. Mr Chapman : I should like to ask what position Mr Bailey holds here to-night as representing the Government ? Mr Bailey : My simple instructions were to meet the Farmers’Club, and my inquiries 1 understood were to he confined to this case that has now occurred, and to the conduct of the department here generally, if any person has got complaints to make. Of course if I can afford any information I will do so. A Member said that sheep which were infected four or five years ago are still infected. The sheep that gave the scab to his own flock in the first instance are still in the district, and are still scabby, and have never been clean. Mr Bailey : Did the owner hold a clean certificate ? Member : Yes, and has been selling every year. Mr Bailey : If that exists, it is not at all complimentary to the department. Member : The sheep are dipped every two or three weeks, and the inspector gets there within a day or two, and says he can’t see anything the matter with them. Of course he can’t. Mr Bailey : If the owner had not a clean certificate, the three months required for a certificate has to date from the last dipping. If he has a clean certificate, he is compelled to warn the inspector that he is going to dip for a certain purpose which he states. If he dips his sheep and conceals the fact of dipping, his flock are treated as infected. Mr Wilson ; If an owner holds a clean certificate, he is at liberty to dip without consulting the inspector. Mr Bailey : If he calls on you for this declaration, that you have not dressed with any scab-destroying preparation for three months, and if you do not give that declaration, the inspector is not in a position to give you a clean certificate. He could not give you a permit. Mr Nicholson ; Does that apply equally for ticks or lice?

Mr Bailey : It applies to them. The inspector can call on an owner to make a declaration, as I have said, if the inspector has any suspicion, and if you cannot make that declaration, then the inspector will not or should not give you a permit to remove or drive. The conversation was continued 2£ hours, and elicited many useful and some amusing remarks on the causes of scab continuing and spreading in this district. A good deal of a personal nature cropped up in the talk, which however was pleasant and instructive on the whole. This conference may bo pronounced a success. The report will be continued in our next issue.

A vote of thanks to Mr Bailey closed the meeting. He promised that every useful fact and representation made to him should be given effect to, so far as he could assist in doing so.

DIPS IN SALE YARDS. Mr Bailey requests us this morning to mention this precautionary recommendation, that having regard to the number of sheep now in this district which have occupied accommodation paddocks in which the scabby sheep from Wanganui were lodged in passing up the Coast, besides the risk of passage along the high road, it is urgently desirable that‘a dip should be erected at each sale yard, and that all sheep should bo put through the dip before leaving the yard.- If this were continued systematically for several months, the risk which now exists would be overcome. He says it is better to spend threepence a head in dipping before sheep leave the auction-yard than it is to risk a loss of hundreds of pounds through infection developing after sheep are removed. The accommodation paddock at Kakaramea in which the scabby sheep were lodged is now closed, and another one is provided ; but those sheep stopped at more places than one. It is certain that one mob of 2,000 sheep were put in a paddock which had been used by infected sheep before the infection had developed, and those 2,000 are now- on the Waimate Plains, owned by more than one person. More than ordinary precaution is therefore necessary.

Mr Barker, auctioneer, says he has 4,000 sheep on the road for his sale on the 15th ; that ho is taking all precaution to avoid the infected paddocks on the way ; and that he will put up a dip before the sale. Mr Bailey thinks a cold dip of requisite strength will be a most desirable precaution to use at sale-yards, if hot dips cannot bo provided.