OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 138, 2 December 1911, Page 6

OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS

IMPRESSIONS OF THE CONFERENCE. (By " Cock-o'-the-North "). The 1!)11 conference of poultrvmen will live long in my memory for various reasons. The first and chief is the remarkable paper by Mr. J. M. Ferguson, of Wellington, oil co-operation. Anyone reading this paper in cold print could not form the least idea of the actual thing itself. The paper took hold of me at once, and though many of those present were evidently struck the same way, they pronounced it premature. This was unfortunately true, but it was the fault of the poultrymen and farmers that this was so, and it is to be hoped that what Mr. Ferguson stated as to the possibility of an enterprising company taking up the work will not eventuate before New Zealand poultrymen wake up, or they will probably find their task more difficult than at present of putting Mr. Ferguson's scheme into active operation.

There were the usual number of wild and thoughtless statements made at this conference which one usually meets at any gathering of poultrymen, and I did my best to kill these as soon as made, and by whomsoever made, and I flatter myself not without success. For instance, one gentleman was speaking who influences a number of people in this Dominion in poultry matters, and when he was asked the question what should be done with diseased eggs, he made the astounding statement that it was impossible for an egg to be diseased. Of course, as is usual with this class of statement, it was simply made and left at that, no reason being given for it. That the statement is an absurdity goes without saying. Cows and other diseased animals are destroyed not only to prevent the danger to public health from the particular animal destroyed, but also to prevent the perpetuation of the disease through their offspring. Now this offspring is produced from an egg, as is the chicken, and if it is possible for a cow to transmit disease to its offspirng per medium of its ovaries, what natural law is in existence to prevent the same thing among fowls? If the statement is correct, then we have good reason to congratulate ourselves as poultrymen, for if it is impossible for an egg to be diseased then, hereditary disease among fowls is an utter impossibility, but is it 1 We will see next week.