THE BLACKLEG MORTALITY.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 8169, 31 July 1906, Page 2

THE BLACKLEG MORTALITY.

INTERVIEW WITH CHIEF VETERINARIAN. A DISJOINTED DEPARTMENT. DIVIDED AUTHORITY. Mr J. A. Gilruth, Chief Government Yuctinarian, arrived in New Plymouth by the Rarawa from Auckland on Monday morning', and went on to Wellington by the express tiain. Mr Gilruth has iust completed a very busy visit to the Auckland province, principal)- in connection with the proposed Auckland and Hamilton abattoirs. On landing- at New Plymouth wharf, he was met by a Daily, Newt reporter, who sought to glean some information concerning the past season's blackleg mortality in Taranaki. and the attitude of the Agricultural Department thereto. Mr Gilrutl: saul he had not yet seen the reporl of the News' interview with the Secretary for Agriculture, but he hat heard of it. After perusing it, he shook his head good-naturedly, as though declining to assimilate all the statements made. Ho took exception U. the assertion that the results obtained by Mr C. J. Reakcs, the investigating officer, were no better than those of the inspcctois, and pointed out that when Mr Reakcs was here the calves were at an advanced age, and very susceplible to the complaint. Mr Gilruth referred to the very large numbers of calves inoculated per day, and objected to the principle. No inspector, lie considered, should be asked to peerage more than four or five hundred inoculations a day. Of course, under very favourable conditions, aid provided the calves were broug-ht in very large lots, as many as eight hundred calves could be put through in a day of eight hours. Eleven and twelve hundred a day was more than could reasonably be expected to succeed. "Suppose you were to vaccinate human beings at that rate, would vim be surprised if some of them diet:" asked Mr Gilruth. "But how are you going to alter things? Can't the number of inoculations be limited?" queried the repot ier. Mr Gilruth's answer commenced with the question, "Wow are we to do it?' At present, lie said, (he inoculations were not conducted by the officers of the Veterinary Division, though the vets, had to take the blame when anything went wrong. If all went right, then the Slock Division took the credit. "If we are to take the blame for faulty vaccination, or for unsatisfactory results," said Mr Gilruth, "then we must control the whole of the inoculations. The inoculating officers should be under the Government veterinary officers, and, further, all deaths must be immc-Jiatelv reported bv the far mers. What was the use'of telling the Department that several calves died a month or two months back? How could the vet. tell whether they died of blackleg or not? It was a "'..ii'< I" of impossibility. In reply lo a question a', ut the 'i':--'iiv of the vaccination u::e.', Mr Gilruth said the vaccine was all lie,lk. It was tested before it was plaints being made it had been called .p rnd tested again at Wellington on calves and guinea pigs. It answered _ every test satisfactorily. The stuff was put up under directions from the biggest laboratory in the United States, where millions of doses a year were, used, and there could be nothing- wrong with it. Going off at a tangent, Mr Gilruth remarked, "Desperate cases demand desperate remedies, and if we can't stamp out blackleg now, with calves almost unsaleable, we'll have no chance in the days to come, when they are worth monuy." If blackleg had been allowed to spread unchecked, the whole of Taranaki would have been infected by now, and the disease would certainly have appeared in other districts, the result being that Taranaki would have been entirely quarantined, as so often asked by the other districts.; Replying- to a oucstion, Mr Gilruth said there were less blackleg cases reported now than before the vaccination commenced, except where deaths occurred after the inoculation. The disease was undoubtedly being overcome in the district. "Farmers are afraid, in some instances, Mr Gilruth, that an inoculated calf of necessity brings blackleg to the farm. Is there any ground for the fear?" asked the rel.ortei. The Chief Veterinarian said there was nothing in the contention. Even if there were danger—and there was no absolute evidence of it—this could be minimised, or absolutely eliminated by burying immediately the carrases of calves dying from blackleg. The law provided for immediate burial. 'And," he added, "if the victims had been buried from the outset, blackleg would never have spread. "Farmers were very lax in I his matter. So much so, that two places ,vhich were reputed to be abfsohitely free from blackleg were now found to have carried cases of it n year or two back; but these had never been reported.'' Mr Gilruth said he knew no more about the proposed inquiry than had been made public. He thought there had been enough investigation already. "And about compensation?" asked the reporter. Mr Gilruth said it was time enough to talk about compensation when the claims were sent in. In many cases it would be difficult to prove a case against the Department, for the simple reason that the cases had not been reported immediately, and it was impossible for them to 1 diagnose the cause of death. The Chief Veterinarian concluded by another reference to the unsatisfactory conditions obtaining. Whilst the Agricultural Department held the \eterinary Division responsible for ill'' success or otherwise of the inoculation, its officers had absolutely no control, and were referred lo in 'he I'liiartnient's last annual report a> having "assisted" the inspectors. 'ITe work was certainly of a class 'hat should |,r- allocated to veterinary men for supervision, because inspectors had not the necessary training or experience, Referring to the months ago, lie failed t,, see why the inspe, tots continued the inoculations with the same doses when thev found that calves were dying after the operation; and was also a( a loss to_ nivteistand why llu; district velo'taaiv surgeon was not notified ii.iine'iatelv „f the mortality >mo. <-t the inoculated beasts.