QUALITY OF LIVE STOCK

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22023, 4 August 1933, Page 10

QUALITY OF LIVE STOCK

NEED FOR NEW BLOOD FOOT-AND-MOUTH DISEASE AMPLE PRECAUTIONS TAKEN (Per United Press Association.) WELLINGTON, August 2. In order to remove any apprehension which may arise through the summarised report of the Governor-General’s speech at Hastings on Wednesday and to correct some inaccuracies, his Excellency (Lord Bledisloe) has supplied the following fext of his remarks on the subject of.the embargo on the importation of British pedigree live stock. His Excellency urged the New Zealand farmers not to oppose the lifting of the present continuous embargo on the importation of British pedigree livestock for the following reasons, all of which were substantiated from official sources in both Great Britain and New Zealand:—

1. Many breeds of livestock in New Zealand show signs of in-breeding and badly need the introduction of fresh blood from abroad. This can only be obtained (except at great cost) direct from the Mother Country. • ‘ 2, No case of foot-and-mouth disease in any importing country has ever been proved to be traceable to Great Britain, and this in spite of the fact that she has had for several generations an immense trade in pedigree animals with every part of the world. 3. No case of foot-and-mouth disease has ever been found in the British export quarantine station on the Thames (deliberately established at the expense of the Empire Marketing Board to overcome all apprehension regarding the transmission of the disease on the part of the oversea dominions), and no case has ever occurred on a British ship conveying an animal thence to any other country. 4. The small island of Jersey (and possibly also Guernsey, off the coast of Britain) is the only country in the world other than New Zealand that maintains a complete and continuous embargo upon the introduction of cattle from Great Britain, and this is mainly for the purpose of maintaining the purity of the island breed and not through fear of admitting the disease. 5. No other European countries maintain an animal export quarantine station comparable in equipment or drastic efficiency of control with that established by Britain on the Thames and supervised by experts of tbe British Ministry of Agriculture. All animals entering it must be passed as healthy and must remain within it during the maximum period of incubation of any infectious disease. From it they are shipped straight on board. 6. Apart from this source of security the period of incubation of foot-and-mouth disease never exceeds 13 days, and the voyage to New Zealand from Britain takes at least five weeks. 7. It is sometimes suggested that animals, although sound themselves, may be “ carriers ” of the disease from one affected animal to another. Numerous experiments to test tbe accuracy of this theory have been made by the Standing Foot-and-mouth Disease Experts Committee in Britain, and they declare it be “not proven.” 8. There is no country in the whole world, except the British dominions and the United States, which is so free from foot-and-mouth disease as Great Britain. It is endemic in all other European countries except Poland and Russia, and no other country in the world takes such drastic measures (by slaughter and isolation and the burning of carcasses) to prevent its spread owing partly to the density of the animal population and numerous roads traversing the country, but mainly to high value of her pedigree stock of every description and her export trade in them. Instead of these measures being a source of alarm they should create a feeling of absolute security to importing countries. 9. Foot-and-mouth disease is not a dangerous or incurable disease. It is equivalent to a bad influenza case in human beings. In South America, where about one in every four animals used to be affected with it, not more than 6 per cent, ever died of it, although no attempt was made to cure it. It is, however, extremely infectious, and spreads with great rapidity in consequence. 10. The Association of Veterinary Officers of New Zealand last week unanimously passed a resolution advocating the admission into New Zealand of British pedigree stock in view of the efficiency of the British quarantine station.

11. The quarantine system (applied to all animals entering New Zealand) is equally efficient. The farmers of New Zealand, proceeded his Excellency’s statement, cannot afford, if they are to compete successfully with other countries, to stand alone in resisting the only effective means for maintaining the constitution, conformation, and trueness to the right type of farm animals. It is especially necessary to recognise this now that there is a prospect of developing a trade with England in chilled beef. The present type of big animal in New Zealand is not suited to British requirements. Only wealthy .stockowners can afford to obtain pedigree animals from Britain by resting them on the way in Canada, the United States, or Australia with all additional charges involved. These more than double the cost of the animal.

His Excellency added that he never made the statement that New Zealanders fed their pigs on garbage, but he did say that a Hawke’s Bay newspaper was wrong in advising them to do so if they wanted to secure the British trade in bacon and pork.