FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

Taranaki Daily News, 2 September 1933, Page 9

FOOT AND MOUTH DISEASE

EMBARGO AGAINST BRITAIN FARMERS REQUEST LIFTING. MAJORITY OF ONLY ONE VOTE. DECISION AT NEW PLYMOUTH. A motion that “In view of the urgency of maintaining flocks and herds at the highest ' possible level this committee should urge the raising of the embargo on the importation of stock from Great Britain, subject to such precautions as the veterinary officials of the department thought necessary, and provided that the importation of stock was confined to bona fide breeders and the number imported by each limited,” was passed at the meeting of the Taranaki Agricultural Society at New Plymouth yesterday by nine votes -to eight. Introducing the motion, Mr. A. Turnbull gave detailed reasons why such a measure was necessary. The need for stock improvement, he said, was very great, as much among dairy herds as among beef cattle. With the success of the chilled ' beef export experiment a good quality of beef was essential, and that quality was not in New Zealand. There was much room for improvement, too, in lambs and mutton for export, while the standard of rams in the Dominion as a general rule was deplorably low.

“Live stock improvements are freely talked of,” said Mr. Turnbull, “yet we are deliberately placing obstacles in the way. From the Imperial standpoint, too, importation from Great Britain was advisable, he added. The United Kingdom was expected’ to accept New Zealand mutton, beef, butter, cheese, etc., and it was only fair to reciprocate where possible. Mr. Turnbull gave details of the elaborate quarantine regulations extant in Great Britain and quoted figures showing the relatively low percentage of foot and mouth disease cases in that country.

Mr. Webster, a member of the New Zealand Veterinary Association, reviewed the position regarding foot and mouth disease generally, and particularly the question of the risk of the introduction of the disease to the Dominion by means of “carriers.” The disease was, he said, one of the most contagious known to the veterinary or medical profession. The extremely strict regulations regarding outbreaks in Great Britain, entailing the slaughter of all infected and every incontact animal in the district, made the spread of the disease outside the country almost impossible. Added to that, an elaborate quarantine system was enforced. Two “all-important points,” Mr. Webster impressed on his audience. “Firstly,” he said, “the disease is so characteristic and so contagious, and the incubation period so short that there is no possibility of its being either overlooked in the first place or alternatively so delayed in making its appearance as to constitute any menace whatever to the Dominion’s herds. Secondly, under the slaughter system enforced in Great Britain no animal is ever allowed to recover and so be a potential carrier. Consequently, there can be no risk of the disease ever being introduced into the Dominion by such means.”