A BURNING QUESTION-IS IT ANTHRAX?

New Zealand Times, Volume LVII, Issue 2549, 29 June 1895, Page 1 (Supplement)

A BURNING QUESTION-IS IT ANTHRAX?

The following inloresting and important article has been published by the Hawke’s Bay Herald : —The most important of Uio requisitions forwarded to tho Government by tho Hawke’s Bay Agricultural and Pastoral Society was undoubtedly that which expressed a desire for the appointment of a bacteriologist for I lie North Island. The South Islam! apparently does not require the services of a specialist of this description, as luckily the pastures are ordinarily speaking clean. But in Hawke’s Bay, Wellington and Auckland, over very extensive grazing areas the sheep and cattle, at certain seasons especially, drop down dead, apparently without provocation, and certainly wilhout a struggle. Many thousands a year are thus lost to astonished pastpralif la, who make investigations, and call in local experts who also make examinations and experiments, but all to no purpose. Last your, as wo have mentioned in a previous article, a Wairoa station manager was called before a Parliamentary committee to explain certain experiments which ho bad made, and to display certain exhibits which he had secured with great skill and under exceptionally favourable conditions, and bis testimony, aided by horrible looking specimens, ,- shown with the aid of a p iwerful microscope, so shocked the committee that it was decided that tho knowledge should remain locked up in tho reapectivo bosoms of lire members of the committee, and picsumahly there it lias remained ever since. Asked what ho considered was (he cause of the mortality in Hocks, the witness whispered a very ugly word, one that was used once or ~twlod' at ■, Friday’s meeting, but lie at the fame " time somewhat reassured those present by asserting that though ho firmly believed that anthrax existed in tho flocks in his district, on tho strength of tho symptoms shown and the results obtained, he was only theorising after all, and had no actual knowledge. Now, wo quito agree with Captain Russell that it is essential to get at tho root of tho evil at once, and the only way to roach the root in this instanco is to employ a bacteriologist as suggested. Again, tho disease may not be anthrax—wo sincerely trust it is not—but it may ho something equally bad, or at tho worst a serious disease for which a simple remedy will suffice. However it be, tho question must not bo played with. Anthrax is very prevalent in Australia, and as little check has been placed upon importations of sheep from that country in the past, tho taint may have accompanied the shipments to those shores. Wo hope that it is not so, but hoping will do no good—tho possibility is too serious for dalliance—and tho sooner we have the answer yea or nay propounded by a competent authority tho bettor. Inoculation is tile only remedy against anthrax, and if a bacteriologist pronounced that disease to exist in this island, inoculation will have to be generally resorted to. If this is found necessary it is obvious that tho sooner tho matter is fearlessly and thoroughly dealt with the hotter will it bo in tho end. It was necessary to spend tens of thousands of pounds in tho extermination of scab, and many settlers had to suffer loss for the general wetd. A similar exigency may occur again, and it will have to ha sternly faced. All wo require at present is to know the worst. We are confident that the veterinary knowledge of this colony cannot supply the information. Further, we know that, though the officials cf the Agricultural Department have been in possession of the facts of which wo write for many months, they have not yet come to any definite conclusion or determined on any specific action in tho matter. We do nut wish to raise an alarm or prejudice our live expoit trade with the sister colonics, but we do wish to sound a note of warning, and to goad tho local Agricultural Society and the local settlers on to determined and concerted action, so that tha_ public mind may be set at rest, and the terrible mortality which is devastating our flocks, and causing' such heavy losses to our pastoralists may be stayed.