THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

Otago Witness, Issue 2785, 31 July 1907, Page 11

THE CHIEF VETERINARIAN.

RETURN OF MR J. A. GILRTJTH. SOME INTERESTING VIEWS. (Fbok Oob Own Cohbespondent.) • WELLINGTON, July 23. Mr J. A. Gilruth, Chief Veterinarian, r-etuimecl -to " "W-elling+oaa. £»»xi Sarifcstixi and Europe this -evening. Made in the interests of bis professional work, the visit has resulted in Mt Gilruth being- in possession of the latest developments in veterinary science. He has. been -at the great world centres of activity m veterinary research work,and has there compared notes on the several subjects in connection with which he hae carried out considerable original research with, the leading investigators of the Old World. Mr Gilruth has found great activity in veterinary matters both in Britain and on the Continent. The science has made vast strides (the question of tuberculosis naturally attracted Mr Gilruth'fi principal attention). He realised as soon as he came into touch with investigators that it was the question of the moment. Evidence was continually being adduced as to the necessity' for controlling it. The present teaching on the subject, founded on the latest experiments, is that the microbe may pass- 1 through the wall of the intestine and get caught uo in the lymphatic glands, and there lac dormant—; -that is to. say, neither increasing ■ nor being killed by the cells of the. body for six months. During this stage the animal shows no symptoms, and even or. post mortem no evidence of the disease can be detected. Yet the presence of the microbes can be detected by bacteriological methods, and the faot that they have not lost their virulence can also be proved. In young animals particularly, there is an equilibrium, but given anything to interfere with the animal's state of health and the disease goes ahead. Of course, if the animal continr«r«- to remain in good health, the bacillus will ultimately ' be killed ; the system will get .over- it. This shows the necessity of keeping young animals under the best food and hygienic conditions so as not to interfere with their vitality. Other things being equal, the calf that is strong and well looked after, and has unimpaired vitality, hae a beter chance of resisting an outbreak than the badly-reared and badly-nurtured animal. At the Aille (Pasteur) Institute, presided over by Dr Calznette, discoverer of the anti-snakebite serum, this scientist and Professor Guerin have been carrying out a large number of experiments. In regard to tuberculosis, one of the experiments under way at the present time is in the direction of ascertaining the . value of a vaccine which it is hoped ■will . prove efficacious. To show the exhaustive nature of these experiments, 50 cattle are being utilised under the one loof, and this in a country where cattle are at a high price. Mr Gilruth was asked for some light on the statement which 'had reached the colony through certain British agricultural journals that the tuberculin test was a broken reed. The statement, *aid Mr Gilruth, was made by Professor Lignieres, and it is not supported by any otter authority. Professor Vallee,. of the Paris . Veterinary School, explained to him that Lignieres was basing his claim on experimental cases where the disease had been conferred experimentally by a socalled vaccine, which was really an antificially weakened bacillus, so that conclusions drawn therefrom could not be taken as a general principle. One of the first men Mi- Gilruth visited in Britain was Professor Hamilton, of Aberdeen. He was anxious to meet this authority in order to discuss with him bnaxy and other diseases of sheep which the Scottish investigator had for many years been studying for the British Government. Mr Gilruth had read Professor Hamilton's reports, especially on bra-xy, a 6 there in a. disease in this country very similar to the trouble, and which Mr Gilruth end Mr Wilkie had investigated some years ago. While the Home and ' New Zealand diseases are apparently — both in symptoms and post mortem — •lmost identical, they are evidently due to two different microbes. From what he has /seen of systems of meat inspection in Britain and Europe, Mr Gilruth is convinced that the New Zealand system is the best in the world, inasmuch as it is uniform, oomplete, and under one general authority. The large cities at Home each has its own (system ; consequently more is there left to the individual discretion of the inspectors. Asked as to whether he had changed his views in regard to the danger to the meat trade in exporting boned beef. Mr Gilruth replied that what he saw at Home convinced him he was right. It was declared to him by the chief meat inspector of Glasgow that- boned beef landed at the port from New Zealand looked uninviting, and it was well known by butchers that anything coming from local districts in the same condition would be promptly ~ condemned. This class of meat, thawed- out in a. muggy, sooty atmosphere, looked most unsavoury, and was quite different from the appearance of the same meat at the time of slaughter. Then, again, the recommendations "of the Royal Commission on tuberculosis cannot be complied with by the Home inspector where boned beef is concerned. Our boned beef has only been passed becauee the New Zealand Government inspector's stamp is upon it. Mr Gilruth is emphatic in saying that lie can see no season to alter Im recommendations to the Government on the subject, as appearin/? in his annual reports. Wherever Mr Gilruth went he heard New Zealand produce highly spoken of. His brother, who i 6 a large supplier of Scotch lamb to the London market, told him that a bhort time ago he had seen New Zealand lamb sold in the London market within id a lb of the primest Scotch. As a matter of fact the Scotch market only feels the competition of good New Zealand lambs. Other frozen meats do not make any difference. Mr Gilruth's own opinion is that frozen New Zealand lamb is much superior to the averaee British lamb, and there is, he thinks, little doubt that very little of out lamb is sold as New Zealand. When in Paris Mr Gilruth gave a dinner to his professional friends— a party of 28. Everything on the menu except the fruits, vegetables, and wines was produced in New Zealand —^e\v Zealand ducklings, mutton, lamb, sweetbreads, kidneys, cheese, and butter. The many friends of Mr H. C. Wilkie, M.R.C.V.S., in this country will bo interested to hear that ho has relinquished the veterinary profession for art. He is at present studying at Brussels. When Mr Gilruth saw him he \yas not looking like his old self. After his arrival in Egypt last October, to take up the appointment of

professor of the Veterinary College at Cairo, he was attacked by fever, and has never completely recovered from it.