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Importation op Stock The following stock were imported during the year: cattle, 82 ; sheep, 433 ; pigs, 4 ; horses, 114 (including the movement of thoroughbreds between here and Australia). Of the above animals, the following were placed in quarantine for the respective periods required : cattle, 89 ; sheep, 43 ; pigs, 4. Exportation op Stock During the year the following animals were exported : cattle, 163 ; sheep, 596 ; pigs, 221 ; horses, 278. Of this total of horses, the movement of thoroughbred horses to Australia accounted for 255 animals, the remaining 23 animals being trotting stock. Dairy Inspection The registration of t9wn-milk-supply premises is carried out by officers of the Division in the various centres. The supervision of these town-supply producers requires -constant inspection, and frequent visits are necessary if a high standard of production is to be maintained throughout the year. It is generally accepted that the maintenance of a supply of high-grade milk is more difficult in the warm summer months, during which many problems quite apart from the production of good milk at the farm arise. There are adequate cooling to ensure the keeping-quality and twice-daily collection to be considered ; also the treatment and distribution of the treated product to the consumer. To supervise and co-ordinate some of these problems in the various supplying districts a Supervising Dairy Inspector was appointed during the year. This -officer has given assistance in dealing with pure-milk production in many districts and has assisted very materially in his contacts with the several interested authorities. Thus, the discussions with the milk authorities, the producers' associations, the treating houses, and other interested parties have proved of distinct benefit to all concerned. On the whole, the standard of production has been good, and the supervision of milk-supply for local consumption is being closely watched. Many new sheds have been erected during the year. Field officers are concentrating on instruction and advice on up-to-date and hygienic methods of milk-production, and the handling of milk is receiving attention at all stages. Poultry The. general position in the poultry industry has not changed substantially as compared with 1948. The demand for eggs still exceeds the supply, except during the " flush " period of production in the spring. Once again supplies of poultry-food have not permitted any expansion in the industry. It became necessary during the past year to import appreciable quantities of fowl-wheat from Australia into the South Island to supplement supplies of wheat grown there and released to poultry-producers. Poultry-producers again claim that egg-production has been affected adversely by food-supplies. There appears to be foundation for this claim in the North Island, mainly because of the irregularity with which wheat consignments arrived from Australia and the consequent necessity for changes in the rations fed. Egg-production was affected by these circumstances in particular during the winter. Birds react adversely to food changes more rapidly in winter than at any other time. There are, however, indications of the food position improving during next year. No appreciable improvement in production will take place until poultry-breeders hold and mate increased numbers of birds for the breeding season. It is doubtful whether the prospects of an improved food situation influenced poultry-producers sufficiently to affect the breeding season which starts next July.

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