FIVE BELOW STRENGTH

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29270, 30 July 1960, Page 7

FIVE BELOW STRENGTH

Field Veterinarians In South Island The appointment of Mr A. G. Brash as livestock superintendent of the Department of Agriculture at Auckland will leave the South Island with only three field veterinarians, five short of the ,eight approved by the department. There will be only one field veterinarian at Christchurch, one at Timaru and one at Invercargill, as well as the two superintendents at Dunedin and Christchurch. Transfers, promotions and appointments outside the service, have depleted the staff, as is the case in the North Island. Government veterinarians have a big task in controlling stock diseases, supervising and inspecting imported and exported stock, the supervision of inspections at freezing works and abattoirs, and general extension work with farmers. OriginMly, the tuberculosis testing of dairy cows for town supply was the responsibility of the department, but this is now carried out by private Asked to comment on the position, Mr Brash said there were fewer veterinarians in the service now than when he joined in 1940, when there was a full staff of three field veterinarians at Christchurch, In the last 30 years he had seen a terrific expansion in club and private veterinary practice—in 1940 there had been no more than four qualified practitioners in the area and now there were about 20—but this expansion had not been matched within the service.