HEALTH OF FARM STOCK.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLVII, Issue 143, 19 June 1913, Page 6

HEALTH OF FARM STOCK.

PROTECTION AGAINST DISEASE

THE STATE'S VETERINARY

SERVICE

Preventing the importation of diseased stock from abroad, checking the spread of disease when it appears, and generally ensuring that stock shall be kept, slaughtered, and marketed or exported under tSe healthiest possible conditions, are very important matters in a country like New Zealand, and it follows that Ino review of rural progress in the i Dominion would be complete which . did not make some mention of the activities of the Government veterinary staff. A brief account of the nature and scope of the work carried on by these experts' was given by one of their number in the course of an interview^ '..-.-., ..... ; Tne veterinary staff, he claimed, (had; always accomplished a considerable volume' of useful work, and had attained a high pitch of organisation. This had been demonstrated in many ways. An outbreak of the disease known as blackquarter . amongst calves in Taranaki had been, checked at a comparatively fearly I stage, and prevented from spreading jto other parts of the Dominion, j There were reasonable prospects of j stamping it out entirely within a i few years. Anthrax had been similarly suppressed. Thanks to the I quarantine regulations, the country j was free from foot-and-mouth disease, rinderpest, glanders, and rabies, and j almost free from anthrax. ! In the important functions which |he administers, the Chief VeterinaI lian is. assisted by a staff of about I twenty-seven qualified veterinarians, j and a small army of stock inspectors j and meat inspectors. i 'The stock inspector, as a rule, is J the man first called upon by the; i farmer if ony disease appears j | amongst his stock animals. The ! ] inspector either gives advice at j j once or, if the case is serious, calls > Jin the aid of the nearest Government j i veterinarian. If necessary, extended ; J investigations are made, and in. some i instances experts in other branches jof the Agricultural Department are J called upon, ar, when the investiga- ! tion. into the causes of bush-sickness t necessitated the analysis of soils, i Other duties which' fall to the lot ; 'of the veterinary staff have to do : i with the inspection of meat, ! i slaughtered for export or for local ;' consumption. At abattoirs in towns ' having a population of over 2000 and j iat the meat export slaughterhouses, ! » • meat inspectors are - permanently i ' stationed, under the supervision and , control of qualified veterinarians. . • Small local slaughterhouses have to ; conform in the first place to regula- ; - tions prescribing the character of i buildings, water-supply and drainage, and so forth, and are inspected by >■' the stock inspectors and at intervals . $ by veterinarians. ; r *So far, efforts to pass a Bill b through the New Zealand, Parliament 5 providing for the registration of i veterinary surgeons have been uni successful, but the matter is likely }to be' revived; before long. While I the veterinarians in the Government - Service have to prove their qualifica--tions, and many veterinarians prac--1 tising privately are also in a position I ■to do so, this does not apply nniveri sally. There are a number of men ■practising in New Zealand a,s veteri- ) nary surgeons, the veterinarian who b was interviewed states, who have no . real claim to the title. There was 3 great need, he added, of legislation ) providing proper standards to which r veterinarians might be required to . conform. The best qualification at 5 the present time is that conferred

by the Royal College of Veterinary • Surgeons (England). A degree from \ this institution is recognised in all parts of the world. To obtain the ! ordinary qualification, the veterinary j student has to go through a four ; years' course and an additional year j of study is demanded of those who . aspire to the Degree of Doctor of; Veterinary Science. There is also a ! Veterinary College in Melbourne, ! but there is none in New Zealand.