The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1903. TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLV, Issue 270, 31 December 1903, Page 2

The Daily News. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 31, 1903. TUBERCULOSIS IN CATTLE.

The i<ccent wholesale condemnation of dairy cattle in Ghristcburoh in order to eradicate the tulberculosis v.vich was found to be rampant there caused quite a consternation -amongst dairymen, and the feelingof insecurity any indignation was shared by those Dunedin people who ' were in the stune line of business. ' Writing on the subject, the Otagto ' Daily Times \Says Uie Stock Act itvery specific on the point, but a 1 too rigid interpretation of the law * an the part of the stock inspectors is certain to leaid to friction with stockowners. In connection with ' tilvis matter there are two main issues involved —viz., the question at c public health' and the interests of ' rtockowners. Clearly the first is f Jaranaount. The interests of stock>wners are necessarily important, * jut they must certainly be reckoned , c mbordinate to the maintenance of * >ulblic health. Humanity has just 1 ;ause to dread tUUerculosis infec;ioin, and since the commnmicableness C if bovine tuberculosis to human be- ® n>gs has been satisfactorily demon- ? itated, Dr. Koch (whojn Mr Donald ? ieid, jun, quoted on Monday afterw»»J to the contrary ftdtwltfcetftft'tf. I r

ing, it is desirable that no unavoidable risks should be taken. From time immemorial, we iuppose, cows more or less affected with the justly dreaded disease have supplied milk for human consumption, for the outward aind visible signs are juot always proportionate to tho 'degree of internal affection. But in Koch's tuberculin we have an exceedingly delicate test by means of which 'minor degrees of infection •that present no visible sign ace readily detected. The characteristic reaction tells its own tale, aired in u manner there is no mistaking, for '■perfectly healthy cattle, or those free from all taint of tuberculosis, do not react. However much stockowners may seek to discount the accuracy of the test, the .general appearance of malaise after tne subcutaneous injection of tuberculin is unmistukabile to the experienced veterinarian. And it is the invariable experience that when animals tlvat snow the characteristic reaction are slaughtered the post mortem discloses undoubted evidence of tuberculous lesions in one or other of the internal organs-. That being so, the owly safe and rational course would l>e to destroy all the cows of any dairy nerd that react in an unmistakable wanner, for the disease ■generally occurs 'in dairy cows, whose constitutions ure wenßened by the strain of an unduly lengthened period of milkjnig. But js probable that anything like a. general application of such a drastic measure would involve a serious handship upon the dairymen of the colony. Still the appearance of the Minister of Agriculture upon the sea of trouble that the veterinary experts of the Department have raised in Canterbury has been marked by the utterance of some rather ill-advised statements. There is a happy mean which Mr Duncan fails 'to discern, and for the sake of a little popularity he has apparently determined ruthlessly to stay the hands of his zealous officers. Unfortunately the situation thus created is not without parallel in the colony. The Department, having appointed experts to whom it entrusts the veterinary work, s't<ips iW abruptly, in the, 'person of the Minister in charge, and makes it plaint that it has not sufficient confidence in its own exports to permit them to proceed uninterruptedly with their work. While it might have been expedient privately to advise the officers of the Stock Department to exercise a measure of circumspection in their operations, it was unwise on the pert of the Minister ostentatiously to declare his purpose from the housetops' in order to placate a number of dairymen. To assert, as Mr Duncan did, that had the work to be done over affain not half the number of cows that had been slaughtered would be ordered to be is a needless belittling of the office 3 of the Department in the eyes of the public. But, however •anxious the Minister may be to allay the fears of the dairymen, he has the public at large yet to deal with. We believe that his dictum on the degrees of infection that are to form the subject of discrimination on tiie part of stock inspectors, such as is exercised in this district, will not meet with general approval. x Mr Duncan's declaration that unless a cow is so badly infected that her udder is affected she is not to be killed discloses a lack of appreciation of the gravity of the situation. Tubercular affection of the udder is not more dangerous to public healtftr through contamination of the mihe supply, than similar affection of the lungs or throat in a milking cow. Possibly, however, Mr Duncan does not know that the milk is elaborated from the general circulatory system, and not merely fi'om -the loqal blood vessels of the mammary glands, The Minister has further decided to permit the isolation of cows not considered to be badly infected, and to allow cows only slightly infected to be "fattened IC7 fhe butcher." The latter decision is in distinct cC" <Tave n'ti9n of the statute, which provides for tha destruction, at a public abattoir, of all carcases found to he infected with tuberculosis a provisipn which is strictly carried out at the Dunedin abattoir. Various remarks that were made at the conference in Dunedin the other afternoon betrayed, we may add, a dangerous ignorance of the provisions of the Stock Act. The English practice is to withdraw from the dairy herd all milking cows that, thioiugh otherwise apparently Jiealt'hy, react to the tuberculin test, alind set them apart for 'breeding. Tuiberculosjs not being a hereditary disease, the progeny are generally healthy, and the cows themselves, when relieved of the stress ol a. lengthened j>eriod of lactation, frequently return to a prime condition of health. To pass on infected cows to the 'butcher for human consumption is, however, a practice that would not be tolerated for a moment in England, where Ministerial interference with the detailed work of departmental officers is, indeed, so rare as to be unknown. It seems passing strange that cattle living practically under natural conditions should be Infected with tuberculosis to any considerable extent, in a more rigorous l climate, where milking cows have to be housed and artificially fed during a considerable portion of the year, the circumstances are entirely different, and the most rigid vigilance is necessary to insure a pure and healthy milk supply. By experts it is thought that much ol the disease has been communicated from cattle to the human subject from promiscuous dissemination of the sputum. Unduly lengthening the milking period, together with insufficient or innutiicious food is, it has been suggested, another of the causes of the trouble here. The practice of continuing one milking period well on to the be- , ■gunning of another cannot be too strongly deprecated, since it involves a greater strain than'' many ,cows con safely bear, especially if the operation is repeated. The pro*. cess of gestation is usually sufficiently trying without subjecting the cattle to the extra stress of milking throughout the whole period. The demands many dairymen make upon their milking cows involve a distinct violation of the laws of Nature, and if they persist in their short-sighted practice they must be prepared to suffer the consabjuences At all costs the public health must be conserved.