19

H.—2

Mr. Coleman Phillips considered the spelling of the paddocks very effective, as the grass became infected by the tapeworm. A neighbour of his had complained very much about the loss of his young sheep, which he (Mr. Phillips) attributed to the presence of seed worm-eggs in the grass, as the owner's land was subject to flooding from a lake, and was very rich land. The Acting-Chaieman said, spelling the paddocks got rid of a lot of filth about the ground. He frequently advocated these being stocked first by cattle and then by sheep. He believed, if that were done the sheep would be healthier and the sheep-owner better off, owing to the heavy loss every year with hoggets. Mr. Beuce asked what was used in New Zealand for foot-rot. Mr. Eitchie said the principal thing was the arsenic-trough. He did not favour paring too close, as he thought that sometimes more harm was done by this than leaving the sheep alone. Mr. Beuce took it that Mr. Eitchie believed more in prevention than curing. Some of the sheepowners of New South Wales were adopting that principle now, and very great relief was felt in consequence. Clause agreed to. Proposed : " 35. That the Governments of Western Australia and New Zealand be urged by the Governments of the colonies represented at the Conference to take more energetic steps than those at present adopted for the speedy eradication of scab." Amendment proposed, " That the words ' and New Zealand ' in the first line be struck out." —Agreed to. Clause as amended agreed to. Proposed: "36. That steps betaken by the several Australasian Colonies to thoroughly eradicate ticks and lice in sheep." Mr. Beuce asked if New Zealand found that English sheep were more subject to ticks and lice than merino. The Acting-Chaieman said that the ticks were very bad on merinos, but during the last few years he thought the deterioration in value had made the sheepowners rather inclined to dip their merino flocks. As for lice, they were prevalent over the whole of New Zealand. They dipped halfbred, and anything higher up to the long-wool. There were a great many dips, but each man had got his own particular fancy, and all got a pretty good sale. He thought that possibly not less than two-thirds of the sheep of the whole colony were dipped for either lice or ticks. For lice they had even to dip more than once unless they were dipped very effectively. Speaking from his experience of dips generally, he had come to the conclusion that there was more fault to be found with the administration of the dip than the dip itself. It was a great trouble to sheepowners to have to dip two or three times. This was caused, first, by having an imperfect form of dip :it was necessary to keep the sheep in, if possible, from a half to three-quarters of a minute. Another cause was imperfect mustering : a few were left out, and the natural result was that they infected the dipped sheep again in a very short time. The dips his company generally made were from 60ft. to 65ft. long, and that gave ample time for the sheep to go through without any stoppage at all. They found that the best length if the dips were properly constructed. He could give some plans of the dips. A very simple mode of plunging the sheep into the dip was to have a shoot or incline and a bag at the end. The old sheep were a little hard to drive through, but the young sheep would go as fast as they could. They had only to let them go. They generally ran the liquid from the draining-yards into a settling-tank, and thence into the dip. They did not like the sidedips ; they found the inclined shoot much better. Mr. Beuce asked if the arsenic dip was prepared by the owner himself for lice and tick. The Acting-Chaieman said it was. His company had used that last year, and he was sorry to say that it did not prove effective. It was tried a good deal in the Hawke's Bay Province last year; but the experience was that an arsenic dip was not effective —so much so that his partners said that they would not use it again. It robbed the wool of its nature. Some of the patent dips had been disastrous in their effects. A maker down South had had to pay very heavily indeed, for his dip had killed in one instance a large number of valuable stud rams. Mr. Bbuce asked if they dipped from six weeks to two months after shearing. The Acting-Chaieman said the merinos were sometimes dipped just off the shears, and the long-wools in about three months. Mr. Coleman Phillips said, for many years he had been led to use a certain dip, and had found his flock getting more lousy every year. He quite agreed with the remarks of Mr. Eoberts as to the value of long dips. He (Mr. Phillips) only put two sheep in the draw, and the others went in as fast as they could go. Clause agreed to. Proposed : " 37. That any animals found to be infected with glanders, farcy, foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, sheep-pox, swine-fever, rabies, trichinosis or any other infectious or contagious disease not existing within the colonies be at once destroyed."—Agreed to. Proposed: " 38. That it is desirable that an efficient and competent staff of Inspectors of Stock be maintained in each colony to prevent the introduction and to arrest the spread of scab or any other contagious or infectious disease; and that the Governments of Queensland, South Australia, and Western Australia exercise the greatest possible vigilance with respect to their northern ports to prevent the introduction of diseases from Eastern, Indian, or Chinese ports." Mr. Bbuce thought it was of little use passing a regulation which was observed in one colony and not in another. The stock interest was by far the largest in all the colonies ; yet in some of the colonies a very small staff of Inspectors was kept, and when a complaint was made about not getting satisfactory certificates they were told by these colonies that they could not do better because they had not a sufficient staff. His remarks did not apply to New Zealand. In his colony they got a note from a neighbouring colony to this effect: without looking at the stock, that, so far as they knew, the owner's statement that they were free from disease was a correct