THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLI, Issue 174, 25 July 1907, Page 5

THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

RETURN OF MR J. A. GILRUTH

SOME INTERESTING VIEWS

Mr J. A. Gilruth,Chief Veterinarian, returned to Wellington from Britain and Europe on Tuesday. Made in the interests of liis professional work, the visit has resulted in Mr Gilruth being in possession of the latest developments in veterinary science. He has been at the great world centres of activity in veterinary research work, and has there compared notes on the several subjects in connection with which he has carried out considerable original research with the leading investigators of the Old World. Mr Gilruth has found great activity in viterinary matters both in .Britain and on the Continent. The science has made vast strides. The question of tuberculosis naturally attracted Mr Gilruth's principal attention. He realised as soon as he came in touch with investigators that it was the'question of. the, moment. Evidence was continually being adduced as to the necessity of controlling it. The present teaching on the subject, founded on the latest experiments, is that the microbe may pass through the wall of the intestine and get caught up in the lymphatic glands and there lie dormant—that Is to say, neither increasing nor being killed by the cells of the body—for six months. During this stage the animal shows no active symptoms, and , even on postmortem no evidence of the disease can beMetected. Yet the presence of the microbes can be detected Jby bacteriological methods, and the facfe that they ■ have- not lost their virtilence. can also be proved; this in young animals, pai"ticularlj. . TJiere is. an, equilibrium. But given anything to interfere with the animal's state of health and the disease goes ahead. Of course if the animal continues to remain in good health the bacillus will ultimately be 'killed—the" system will get over it. This shows the necessity of keeping young animals under the best food and hygienic conditions, so as not to interfere with their vitality. Other things being equal the calf that is> strong—is well looked after and has unimpaired vitality—-has a better chance of resisting an outbreak than the badly reared and badly nurtured animal. At the Lille (Pasteur) Institute, presided over by Dr Calmette, discoverer of # the_ anti-snake bite serum, this scientist and Professor Guerin have been carrying out a large number of experiments in regard to tuberculosis. One of the experiments under way at the present time is in the direction of ascertaining the value of a vaccine which it is hoped will prove efficacious. To show the exhaustive nature of these experiments' fifty cattle are being utilised under the one roof. And this in a country where cattle are at a high price. Mr Gilruth was asked for som*e light', on the statement which had reached the Colony through certain British agricultural journals that the tuberculin test was a broken reed.

The statement, said Mr Gilruth, was made by Professor Lignieres, and it is not supported by any other authority. Professor Vallee, of the Paris Veterinary School, explained to Mr Gilruth that Lignieres was basing his claim on experiment cases, where the disease had been conferred experimentally by a so-called vaccine, which.was really an artificially-weakened bacillus, so that conclusions drawn therefrom could not be taken as a general principle. One of the. first men Mr Gilruth visited in Britain was Professor Hamilton, of Aberdeen. He was anxious t> discuss with him braxy and other diseases of sheep which the Scottish investigator had for i^nany years;* been .studyingforthe British ,Goy,ern'menf*, Mr; Gilruth liaJd' read Professor Hamilton's report, especially on .braxy, as there is a disease in this country very similar to the trouble, and which Mr Gilruth and Mr Wilkie had investigated some years ago. While the Home and New Zealand diseases are apparently both in symptoms and post mortem, almost identical, they are evidently due to two different microbes.

From what he has seen of systems of meat inspection in Britain and Europe, Mr Gilruth* is convinced that the New Zealand system is the best in the world, Inasmuch as it is uniform, complete and under one general authority. The large cities at Home each has its own system, consequently more is.there left to the individual discretion of the inspectors.

Asked asto whether he had changed I his views in regard to the danger to the meat trade in exporting boned beef, Mr Gilruth replied that what he saw at Home convinced him he was right. It was declared to him by the chief meat inspector of Glasgow that boned beef landed at the port from New Zealand looked most uninviting, and it was weil known by butchers that anything coming from local districts in the same way would be promptly condemned. This class of meat, thawed out in a muggy, sooty atmosphere, looked most unsavoury, and quite different to the appearance of the same meat at the time of slaughter. Then, again, the recommendations of the Royal Commission on tuberculosis cannot •. be complied with by the Home inspector , where boned beef is concerned. Our boned beef has only been passed because the New Zealand Government inspector's, stamp is upon it. Mr Gilruth is emphatic in saying that he can oee no reason to alter his recommendations to the Government on the subject as appearing in his annual reports. Wherever Mr Gilruth went he heard New Zealand produce highly spoken of. His brother, who- is a large supplier of Scotch lamb-to. the London "market, told him that a. short time ago he had seen New Zealand lamb sold in the London market within -£d a pound of the primest Scotch. As a matter of fact, the Scotch market only feels the competition of good New Zealand lambs. Other frozen meat does not make any difference. Mr Gilruth's own opinion is that frozen New Zealand lamb is much superior to the average British lamb. And there is, he thinks, little doubt that very little of our lamb is sold as New Zealand.

When in Paris Mr Gilruth gave a dinner to his professional friends, a party of twenty. Everything on the menu, except the fruits, vegetables and wines, was produced in New Zealand -r-New Zealand ducklings, mutton, lamb, sweetbreads, kidneys, cheese and butter.—N.Z. Times.