RESEARCH PLANS

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20492, 7 May 1938, Page 8

RESEARCH PLANS

ECZEMA INCIDENCE GOVERNMENT’S PROGRAMME COMPREHENSIVE PROPOSALS (Special to Times.) WELLINGTON, Friday. The Government’s plans for investigations into facial eczema in stock were announced to-day by the Acting-Minis-ter of Agriculture, the Hon. F. Langstone. " The Department of Agriculture has delegated a strong team of workers to the inquiry, including veterinarians, soil and analytical chemists, and biochemists," added Mr Langstone. "In addition there will be an officer of the Department of Scientific and Industrial Research, who will deal with physiological and biochemical changes in pastures. The work will be coordinated under the direction of Mr F- J. Filmer, B.V.Sc., veterinary research officer of the Department of Agriculture." Bouth Auckland Work The Minister stated that the research work could broadly be classified under three headings. They were an extensive survey by veterinary officers in the affected areas of the South Auckland district to obtain all possible data in connection with the outbreak, intensive field and laboratory work at the Ruakura State Farm by veterinarians and chemists, and pathological work in connection with the disease at the Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory.

" The survey by the veterinary officers in the South Auckland district is receiving the co-operation and help of members of the local sectional committees, which have been set up," said Mr Langstone. “ The information which it is necessary to collect regarding the incidence of facial eczema on farms, covers a very wide field. It includes such things as the area of the pasture; the topography and nature^ of the soil; the composition of the pastures; topdressing and grazing practice; the incidence of the disease in sheep and cattle; the condition of the pasture on which the disease occurred; supplementary feeding or special grazing after rain; and meteorlogical data.

“ In the collection of this information we have no doubt the full cooperation of farmers whose properties will be visited will be given," continued Mr Langstone. “ Such co-op-eration will be greatly appreciated by the department. Aspects of Disease

" Research work at the Ruakura State Farm will include a daily biochemical examination of blood from affected sheep with the object of determining, if possible, the relation between liver disturbance and the appearance of the actual skin lesions. Work will also be conducted at Ruakura on pasture analysis. At the Wallaceville ' Veterinary Laboratory work will be continued on the pathological side of the disease, together with experimental work from various angles.

" The organisation which has been set up has been instructed to carry out the fullest possible inquiry into the factors which give rise under abnormal seasonable conditions to eczema in stock. Dr G. S. M. Hopkirk, officer in charge of the Wallaceville Veterinary Laboratory, who is at present abroad, has been instructed to investigate the work which has been carried out in other countries, particularly South Africa, where serious outbreaks have occurred.

"The investigations which have commenced in New Zealand will form the basis of a long-term programme," said Mr Langstone. “ It will be realised that the inquiry, to be of permanent value in determining for example the conditions under which stock should be managed or treated in order to avoid future outbreaks, must be continued for a considerable period after the cessation of the present outbreak. Farmers may rest assured, however, that any new information which may be discovered from time to time will be widely and quickly disseminated." “HUSH HUSH POLICY” DEPARTMENT’S RETICENCE NEED FOR IMFORMATION The following letter has been forwarded to the editor of the Waikato Times by ” Commonsense ’’: Sir, —Is it because the Minister of Agriculture and his Director-General have gone overseas that the Department of Agriculture is pursuing a hush-hush policy in regard to this matter? I have been daily scanning the public press for some periodical announcements by the Department as to what is being done to discover the cause of the disease and have waited in vain for advice how to farm my property. In the meantime I am starving my sheep and have grass going to waste all over my farm. I cannot be expected to have any confidence in a department which is not prepared to take me into its confidence.

Is anything being done to ascertain the losses among the sheep flocks in the South Auckland area through the present epidemic? We hear a great deal of controversy of late of what comprises the national income and one cannot but think what a huge loss to the farmers and the workers the ravages of this disease is going to mean. Many farmers are going to be seriously embarrassed financially in replacing their sheep—some of them may not be able to—and it is surely the responsibility of the Government at once to set up an investigating committee to ascertain the individual losses so that some Government scheme of assistance may lie set in operation. A serious drop in production is going to have a very adverse effect on the whole community.