ALARMING SPREAD OF PLEUROPNEUMONIA IN SCOTLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 1856, 17 June 1887, Page 7

ALARMING SPREAD OF PLEUROPNEUMONIA IN SCOTLAND.

The following remarks on the prevalence of pleuro-pneumonia in Scotland and Ireland, from the' North British Agriculturist of a late date, should prove of more than casual interest to the readers in view of the action at present being taken with a view to opening our ports to foreign importation. Although pleuro does not seem to be attracting much attention in England at present, the agricultural papers team with cases of anthrax, so that all parts of the kingdom appear to be tainted with diseases of one kind or another. The Agriculturist says : — " During the last few months — since the middle of January, indeed— there has been a very serious spread of pleuro-pneumonia throughout Scotland. Up till the end of 1886 there was not so much to complain of as regards the ravages of this most insidious and fatal complaint, though the country has not been completely clear of it for a considerable time. Not for many a day, however, with what are termed suppressive machinery in force in each country, have there been so many outbreaks' as have occurred since last New Year. At the present moment, we believe, there are nearly 60 infected herds and contaminated steadings or courtyards in Scotland with pleuro-pneumonia. That cer* ■ tainly gives cause for uneasiness; all the more so that the pest is widely spread over Scotland. The east borders are tolerably clear, and so are the counties north of Banff- , shire ; but the disease really threatens the "rest of Scotland in a formidable fashion. It is many a day since there has been so many outbreaks of pleuro covering such si wide area in Scotlsnd as is the case just now. There may have been as many, or even more, affected herds years ago, but they were more in districts, and certainly not extending so widely over the country. It has been suggested that one cause of this, if not the main one, is the dependence placed by farmers on the efficacy of inoculation as a preventive from the disease, recently brought so confidently before the public. We do not think that any such reliance on the part of live stock owners has been in the slightest contributory to the widespread existence of the deadly disorder alluded to. The disease in Scotland is chiefly if not solely, traceable to the introduction of Irish cattle. Dublin and , its surroundings are not often entirely free j from the pest in its active form or from its i germs. The cattle lairs, and even the trucks j and ships that convey Irish stock to Scotch ' grazing and feeding centres, are not ixnreason- j ably viewed with suspicion. In the course of transit there is only too good reason to believe that much of the infection that proves so fatal afterwards is contracted by Irish cattle. But many of the Scotch and English outbreaks of pleuro have been traced to Irish cattle that had in all probability contracted the disease before they were shipped, if not, in fact, before they reached Dublin. Of this belief there was confirmation no longer ago than in the end of last week, when a cattle dealer was fined £2 in the Dublin court for having two cows suffering from pleuro-pneumonia in the Steam Packet Company's sheds in readiness for shipment across the St. George's Channel. In this case the disease had been sufficiently advanced to facilitate detection, but vary often it is not so."