The New Zealand Herald. AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4,1865.

New Zealand Herald, Volume III, Issue 643, 4 December 1865, Page 4

The New Zealand Herald.

AUCKLAND, MONDAY, DECEMBER 4,1865.

SPEOTEMUR AGENDO. Givo every man thine enr, but fewtby voice ; Tnke each man's censure, but reserve thy judgment. Thia Above all,—To thine otvnself be true; And it must follow, as the night tlic day, Thou canst not then be fulso to any num."

If ever there wa3 an Act of Parliament that required amending, it is the " Diseased Cattle Act," which lias kept a sufficiency of animal food from tho poor man's family, "and lias made him pay double the price lie ought to have paid for that which lie did purchase. That the framers of tho Act intended it really to work tho mischief it has done, we do i2ot say—but by tho powers which have been delegated by tlio Act to Superintentendents of Provinces, it has been made the vehicle, not of guarding against infection, which indeed scientific men have declared does not appertain to the disease,but of granting a monopoly of meat supply to certain individuals, wherever these have been able either to cajole or coerce Superintendents into a belief that there was danger in importing cattle. We have seen a noticeable instance of this, where the -Superintendent of Canterbury has prohibited the West Coast goldfields fi •om receiving cattle from nearly all other places than Canterbury and Nelson, and thousands of people have tlras been forced into buying tho beef and scabby mutton of those two Provinces at something equal to famine prices. We need not go so far, however, to find the pleuro-pneumonia bugbear in full working order, and the restrictions against importing cattle into this Province from some other parts of New Zealand and from the Australiaa is a matter which requires tho attention of our new Superintendent. Thif., with many other abuses, we trust to see swept from amongst us with such a man as Mr Whitakcr at the head of affairs.

There lias been a great outcry against the danger of loss to bo dreaded from the introduction of pleuro-pneumonia— yet with ill tho restrictions that have been devised and applied, pleuro-pneumonia has been introduced, and haa not been found to be so terrible a plague as was supposed it would have been. Nevertheless, there is a happy medium between the reckless importation of diseased cattle and tho wholesale prohibition of all importation of cattle whatever, however free from diseaso the cattle may be supposed to bo. With a careful and skilful system of inspection established, there need be very little fear of the introduction of diseased cattle. Suspected animals could he placed in quarantine and need not even be made victims, as too many were made hero at one time, of a senseless panic. As we said, however, before we look tor a change in many things under the new regime, and on this matter in particular. It were better to lose a few head of cattle from pleuro-pneu-monia, than to pay fully twice more than we need to pay for beef. In mooting the question of tho importation of cattle, and counting on the supposition that the change wo have alluded to will be soon made—we would draw the attention of importers to what we have often before pointed out as an error on their part. We allude to the attempt to import fat instead of store or lean stock into this Province. It would pay far better, as a commercial speculation to the importer, to ship store cattle which could be procured at a very low figure and in any quantity in New South Wales, from Newcastle for instance, than to attempt to supply the market here with beasts already fit for the butcher. There always occurs more or lesß loss of life in the

passage of a cargo of fat cattle. They are less able to stand the roughness of tho sea than lean stock and less firm upon their feofc, and as cattla aro stowed in the hold of a vessel, the fat boast when down has less chance togetup again than has a lean one. As far, too, as room goes, those of the one kind could be stowed in the space occupied by two of the others, and on arrival in Auckland, the lean stock would be none the worse for their'voyage, nnd as fit as ever they were to bo placed on good feed. On the other hand fat cattle 011 arrival are frequently not as fit for the butcher as they should be, heated and excited as the blood is with close confinement and stowage iu a vessel's hold, and if placed out at grass they fall off 1 , at first, in fiesh.

We believe that there is a good market for tlio sale of store stock both Worth and South of Auckland, and one too that must increase every year as more and more land comes into occupation and cultivation. There arc hundreds of settlers who would only be too glad, if the " Diseased Cattle Act" restrictions did not stand in the way of free trade in cattle, to purchase so many head of store stock iu Auckland, (according to their means arid the feed at their disposal, whether grass or that obtained on a busli run,) and return us the same cattle agaiu, after a short lime, in lit condition for the butcher.

We have.said that the "Diseased Cattle Act" required amendment, and we used the term advisedly, for while we have before us instances of the evil working of the Act, there may be cases, and indeed there is ono at the present time, where the application of the restrictions provided iu the Act may serve most beneficially. We allude tu the new cattle disease raging at the present time in England, and while we would wish to see the inter-provincial and inter-colonial restrictions 011 free importation removed, we certainly think the prohibition of the importation—not only of cattle, but of sheep, swine, and even poultry, which are infected with the disease, should be most stringently enforced with respect to Great Britain. ' A murrain such as that now raging at home introduced into the Colony would indeed bo a matter most deeply to be deplored.