WELLINGTON SPECIAL.

Gisborne Times, Volume VI, Issue 283, 9 December 1901, Page 2

WELLINGTON SPECIAL.

HEALTH DISTRICTS. (Special to Timhb.) Wellington, last night. The Public Health Department is now j .nauguratiug a scheme to get the various i 1 bounty Councils and other bodies adjoining boroughs to combine into sanitary [ areas, each containing about Id,DUO inhabitants, each local body to contribute on a < population basis- to the payment of an ! inspector's salary. This inspector will be ; absolutely under the control of the Health ; Department, with a borough as a central ' authority in each district so formed. By this means the Department hopes to be able to cope with any outbreak of infectious disease immediately it arises, as notification of infectious diseases must now be made to a local authority, and under this proposed scheme there will be a properly qualified inspector on the spot who will be able at once to take the necessary precautions to prevent the spread of diseases. The object of the scheme is to make the working of the Public Health Act as little burdensome as possible to local bodies, and at the same time to enforce the provisions of the Act in the interests of the general health of the community, not only in the centres of population, but in the most remote country districts. TRADE WITH THE CAPE. The Hon. H. D. Winter, Minister for Agriculture at Natal, has, through Mr J. G. Gow, Government Trade Commissioner, now in South Africa, conveyed to the New Zealand Government his admiration of tho progressive spirit which prompted the sending out of tho exhibit of this colony’s product-. He also asks, for the information of his Government, as to the names and addresses of well-known stud sheep breeders, and of leading seedsmen. The length of the time occupied in the journey from New Zealand to Natal; | the cost of freights on animals and pro- [ duco ; the varieties of oats which are now generally cultivated, and their liability to rust.

ANGORA GOATS. The Agricultural Department has been urged by settlers in different parts of the colony to import some thousands of Angora goats from South Africa, on account of the marketable value of their hair. Tho Department admits that the goats would do well in the warmer parts of tho colony, but it is unable to take any steps in tho matter just at present, as owing to the prevalence of scab and rinderpest in South Africa, the animals could not be brought into New Zealand. There are numerous breeds of Angora goats in South Australia, but tho Agricultural Department has not been able to purchase more than about half a dozen ot them, the owners being unwilling to sell except at fancy prices.