TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9157, 15 July 1895, Page 4

TOPICS OF THE DAY.

Tiie question of diseased Diseased Meat meat has lately come in prominently before the Queensland. public of Brisbane, owing to a paper read on the subject before the local Scientific Society, and the Rev. Mr Cbodowski, until recently Rabbi of the Hebraw congregation in Christ-

church, has been adding his quota to tLw discussion. The eabjecb is one in which a? ** Rabbi ulways took groab interest, & n ,| $ on which he was well adapted to speafe !-' it was pait of bis duty—aa it h that of cv * I Rabbi—to , examine and mark the meat i teudod for consumption by Jows, aa( i enable them to discharge this duty p tQ «. , \ the Rabbis undergo a tho:ongh trainin *' ~W veterinary science. Mr Chodowski, W V° J he was interviewed on the matter 'of J" f, meat supply of Brisbane, said that during V* % fourteen years'experience in examining niaak P in England, Germany, and New Zea! lt j p he had fouud no country so free f r 8 diseased cattle as Queensland. Speakin f* roughly, 8 per cent, of the cattle ki!l 3c j £ his presence during the previous three monchs, and 11£ per cent, of the sheen {,o :t* been condemned. In England, durion •> period of two and a half years, the Jcwijk I Inspectors had found 40 per cent, of the cattle, 23 per oent. of the sheep, and ft & per cent, of the calvos, more or less diseased. U Lα New Zealand 12 per coat, of ih« j£" cattle and 20 per cent, of the aheen « were diseased to a greater or '{ extent. The calves appeared to bo T' tnune from disease in New Zealaud and - Queeus'aud, as in neither colony had JT» I Chodowskiever had to condemn ono; bat I iv ■ England that was not the case.. Xhi I comparison was favourable to Queensland, but still the percentage of diseased animalj was too higli, and the public ought not to real content with the existing system of allowiug diseased meat and impure milk to m into consumption without efficient ia. spection. The evil was one which could only be remedied by the establish, ment of public abattoirs were cattlt alone might be killed, and where the carcases would be subjected to d rigid examination by a killed official. PostuiorUm&x&wi. nation was the only efficient system possible, for tuberculosis, from which half the cattle which were coudemned were suffering, \yy often difficult to detect in the live animal, Mr Chodowski is reported to have addej J that in New Zealand all butchers must kill I all beasts iut nded for consumption at public abattoirs under proper inspection, as with scattered slaughter-yards supervision w&t impossible ; but we regret to say that this is hardly true, although in time we may hope to attain a degree of civilisation which will demand such precautions against the sale of diseased meat. The Babb< said that if the system which he described as adopted with regard to animals killed for local oon. sumption was also applied to those killed at the freezing works, and consumers in England knew that such wot the case, the frozen meat trade would be improved, but this is another matter upon which we have our doubts. Asked as to what became of the condemned carcases Mr Chodowski said that at the slaughter yarda which he attended they wore destroyed. Hβ did not know what other butchers did with diseased carcases, but the meat goc into consumption somehow. The loss when a beast was condemned foil upon the butcher, but in his opinion it should fall upon the vendor, who had obtained good money fer a worthless animal.

The ciicumstances attending Loss of a the loss of seven members of Crew of the crew of the ship Argils, Heroes. bound from London ,-to Sydney, of which we have already heard bare details by cable, were of a particularly tragic nature The vessel was about a fortnight out from the Cape, battling against a heavy gale and a terrific ea, when the third officer, James Kelly, ' was swept overboard by a huge wave, the men who were with him on the forecastle head having a narrow escape of sharing his fate. The ship was immediately brought up into the wind, and a lifeboat was got Veady for lowering. In response to the call *" for volunteers, the chief officer, the steward and four A.B.s came forward, and in twelve minutes from the time the alarm of "man overboard" was first sounded the boat,with its plucky crow, was on its life-saving errand. When the accident happened life buoys were thrown to the drowning man, aqd two men were sent aloft to watch these, so that they could direct the boat to the \ spot. A tremendous sea was running, wjd the little oratt was threatened evesy minute with destruction as she was toesod about by the billows. It seems doubtfal whether tho third officer was picked ufj, but-the captain believes that he was, M after reaching the spot where he had disappeared the boat was seen by the look-out men to turn and start on the return to the ship. She was frequently lost to view amid the heavy squalls which swept over the ship, and the captain decided to bear-down towards , her, as it appeared impossible that any boat could live long in such a sea. The two crafts were soon close together, and the - chip wore round, so as to bring the boat on her starboard quarter. At this moment' another furious squall obscured every* thing for some time, and when it cleared the cry went up that the boat had gone. It was too true; the brave fellows had »U been drowned when almost at the ebip'e side, within measurable distance of safety - after their perilous trip. For twenty-font ! hours the Argus cruised round the epofc, ■ burning blue lights at night and sending op rockets, but nothing was eeen of the boak and her crew except an oilskin coat floating on tho water, and.after consulting with the crew tbe captain decided that) nothing more : could be done, and tbe voyage to Melbourne was resumed. The men who were drowned were all under thirty years of age and were : ~ all nativea of the North of Scotland, tw« coming from the Shetlands. j