The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo. SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1899. DAIRY INSPECTION.

Auckland Star, Volume XXX, Issue 88, 15 April 1899, Page 4

The Evening Star: WITH WHICH ARE INCORPORATED The Evening News, Morning News, and Echo.

SATURDAY, APRIL 15, 1899. DAIRY INSPECTION.

For the causa that lacks assistance, For the ■wrong that needs resistance, For the Muro in the distance, And the gcod that ye can do.

It is the intention of the Government that the six veterinary surgeous recently appointed for New Zealand shall undertake the general inspection of dairies throughout the colony. Circulars were recently sent out by ths Agricultural Department suggesting that this important work should be managed by officers of the Government, instead of being either neglected or left entirely to men appointed by the local authorities, as is at present the case. In nearly every instance the parties addressed in the circular have expressed themselves favourable to the proposal, which, we understand, is part of a general scheme to secure a thorough inspection of all the sources of our meat and milk supply, as much in the interest of the public health of the colony as in that of our herds and our export trade. The present system is the reverse of satisfactory. There is no assurance in numbers .of instances-that the milk supplied to the public is pure, or the meat they consume absolutely wholesome. Take the ease of Auckland,. for instance, where there is inspection of cattle used in the dairies and sold in the open market. Can it be pretended that that inspection is thorough? We had brought Under our notice last week an animal which on being killed proved to be in a most shocking state of disease. • Scarcely a part of the brute's body was in a healthy condition, and some of the organs were j a mass of tubercule. This cow, which , ought to have been destroyed months j before is said", to have passed un- j challenged through the saleyards, and , it is asserted that up to three weeks j before the animal was killed it was j Being milked. It will, of course, be j urged that this is an exceptional case, j That is possible, but it seems to u3 that the mere fact of one such case j passing undetected is a sufficient condemnation of our present system of inspection. i Investigations conducted in every part of the colony reveal'the presence of tuberculosis in our herds to .an 1 alarming extent. The climatic con- j ditions here seem to be especially j favourable to the spread of this dire i disease; and all our veterinarians who j have directed attention to the matter I are agreed that most stringent measures should at once be taken to stamp it out.* It was with this object, in \ view that the six new veterinary surgedris were appointed. Their chief work- will, therefore, no doubt, ~be the cleansing, of the herds of .the; colony generally? but, at, the same time, it is pi-oposed that they, should combine with their duties the inspection of. dairies. This will, of course, involve extra labour for them, and it may be doubted whether they will be able to attend thoroughly to everything. The fear is needless, however. if, as we conjecture, these officers are intended to act largely in a supervisory capacity. We do not suppose that they will be able to take over the work now done bx our stock and dairy inspectors. Tnere must always be a large amount of detail necessitating close attention which will reqxiire the services of subordinates. But what these veterinary surgeons .can assuredly do j» to inaugurate a stricter system of inspection than has hitherto prevailed. They can instruct and advise those who have charge of the details and keep them up to the mark. Our City Council has, we believe, recently had the question of dairy inspection brougfit before one of the committees, and the matter is likely to come up shortly at the usual ineeting. When it does arise we hope the Mayor and those who have so ably supported him in the path of reform will not allow a subject of such vital public interest to be shuffled into the background. On former occasions when it has been ventilated in the same place the tendency has beets not to deal quite fairly with the question. Either the Councillors did not recognise its importance or were influenced in another direction. We sincerely trust that under the new regime things will be better managed, especially as the proposed" arrangements by the Government promise to make the problem of inspection a much easier one than it has been.