CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 655, 1 August 1876, Page 2

CAMBRIDGE FARMERS' CLUB.

The monthly meeting of the members of the above club will take pUcs this evening, when a more than usually interesting subject will be brought forward for discussion, namely, the " .Restriction of Importation of 'Cattle Bill," now before the Assembly. 'Wo have nl ready alluded in our leading columns to the risk which sfeockowners iv New Zealaind run, owing to the prevalence in many parts of the United Kingdom, at the present time, of the "foot and'mouth disease," a plaguo which is not confined to horned cattle alone, but, extends to horses, sheep, and even pigs. The foot and mouth disease is an eruptive febrile affection, and runs a certain ascertained course, having several stages in its development, U generally fatal when the internal organs are involve 1, and, is highly contagious. The symptoms -are easily recognised. There is a ■disinclination to feed, and rumination is arrested. The fever is attended with an eruption vesicular in its nature, occurring on the udder, inside the thighs, on the denial pad, and along the sides and surfaco of the tongue. Occasionally this eruption extends into the stomachs and intestinal canal. There is,' as the disease takes hold of the animal, a profuse discharge of frothy saliva, mixid with "blood. Lameness is early present, and the resides appear between the digits, ani especially at the posterior part of the coronary substance, at- the upper and back part of the hoof. While in the second stage, the hoof begins to loosen its attachment to to tho parts beneath, and, not unfrequently, is rcmovtd altogether. Iv neglected cases, not only the hoof 3, but the bones contained part connection with their fellows. •The vesicles generally disappear in tho coarse of a, week or ten days, and occasionally they slightly suppurate. Although th&eiuption'inay thus early terminate, the fever may continue, and a tardy recovery, -or a fatal termination, may occur. • The udder in milch -cow* becomes indurated and structurally altered. The joints of the extremities, or same internal organ, probably the lungi, are the- situations where- the 'disease is apt to locate itself. This malady may be communicated to the -human subject, and all domestic animals, by using the milk from cows ,and animals sui&ring fi'ora*the disease, or otherwise exposed to tho influence of contagabion. Otir 'readers may well understand the hatoo which such a disease-would make, if it apptared in our herds, running, as thoy do, at large over nmny parts of the Province ; that, in fact, it would prove as disastrous as the much dreaded pleuropneumonia itself. The question to b« tonight is on© of the eery last importance. It is a matter which affects not merely the farmor or the grazier, but, to a greater -or less extent, every member of the community. If once introduced into this Colony — and the 'disease has increased to an ularming- extent in the old — its effects will be most disastrous. Our farmers would suffer largely, in some cases ruinonsly, while fchere would bo & large advance in J th» price 6f every description of butchers meat. That we have hitherto escaped is no guarantee that we «hall continue to do so, and already New Zealand is the only Colonly in the Australasian Group which throws itself open to the risk. We think that Sir Donald McLean deservea-credit -for having brought the matter before the notice of Parliament, and wo look for a thorough and exhaustive discussion on the subject by the Cambridge Clnb to-night, at the opinion of those most directly interested in^-the question cannot but carrj considerable weight with it, and the suojoct is one which ought to be freely and carefnllyconsiderod byevery farmer's club in the Colony.