FOOT AND MOUTH.

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 69, 23 March 1931, Page 4

FOOT AND MOUTH.

IMPORTATION OF STOCK,

(From Our Ow n Correspondent.)

GISBORNE, this day.

Leading stock breeders in the Poverty Bay district are unanimous in the opinion that conclusive proof, that no danger would exist from the importation of live stock should be provided before the present embargo is lifted. Gratification was expressed in some quarters at the Prime Minister's assurance that his investigations had convinced him of the adequacy of the quarantine regulations, but Mr. J. E. Benson, vice-president of the Farmers' Union, wondered if Mr. "Forbes had been misled.

The Farmers' Union, Mr. Benson stated, was emphatically against the lifting of the ban, and no stone would be left unturned in a light to oppose any attempt to admit stock from a country affected with disease. The contamination of the flocks of the Dominion, he said, would ruin the existing valuable export trade.

Mr. E. R. Black, president of the Sheepowners' Federation, also counselled caution. He pointed out that in Great Britain, despite all precautions, foot and mouth disease had broken out periodically, one outbreak occurring only a few mouths ago. The country could not afford to take the risk of infection, and the authorities should proceed warily before lifting the ban. The flocks and heitls of the Dominion did not so urgently require the introduction of new blood as to warrant farmers taking the slightest risk.