The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1888.

Timaru Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 4381, 3 November 1888, Page 2

The Timaru Herald. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 3, 1888.

After a somewhat lengthy interval of silence something has again been heave! of the Intercolonial Commission on 1 Rabbit Destruction now sitting in Sydney. Mr A. D. Bell, tbo representative o£ New Zealand on the corniniasion, has sent the Government a memorandum containing an abstract of the ; work done up to Octoberl7th,the dayon 1 which thecom muni cation was dispatched. A progress report of the commission is to i be looked for shortly, but in the mean time Mr Bell's memorandnm is interesting as far as it goes. With regard to the ' Pasteur disease remedy he says that the i experiments have demonstrated clearly . that fowl cholera can be communicated 1 to rabbits either by feeding them with 1 inoculated fowl or by infection, yet it does not appear to be specially : dangerous to them by means of contagion or infection even under more favourable conditions than could , be obtained in the open country. This intelligence is very discouraging to i those who have placed faith in M. Pasteur's remedy. It would obviously not, be sufficient that the disease should kill when taken by the rabbits through the agency of food. The poisoned grain does that effectually, and a great deal more cheaply than it could be done by the sprinklings of fowl cholera broth. M. Pasteur does not depend on food poisoning for the principal effect. The laying of grain or vegetables sprinkled with cholera broth has from the first been regarded by him only as a primary means of bringing rabbits into contact with the cholera germs. That being effected, he believes, and all his experiments have gone to demonstrate the fact, that the infected rabbits will spread the disease with enormous rapidity by carrying the germs to an infinite number of points where otber rabbits will come in contact with them and become in their turn, infected. If the theory breaks down there is an end of the Pasteur disease remedy as a practical means of getting rid of the rabbit pest or of diminishing it in any appreciable degree. But notwithstanding the adverse character of Mr Bell's memorandum, it would, we think, be jumping at a conclusion if the experience and dictum of M. Pasteur were to be rejected without further experiment. His faith in the remedy must have been very strong before he committed himself to the statements which he made, and before he went to the trouble and expense of sending out agents to Australia for the purpose of showing how the thing was to be done. Those who havo made themselves acquainted with but a small part of if. Pasteur's past achievements as an experimenter are aware that very much of hisundoubtedsucceßgeshas been brought about by the scrupulous uecuracy with which his tests have been conducted and by his unwearied diligence in eliminating disturbing causes. The word of such a man should carry very great weight when he says that he has conducted a series of elaborate experiments and has proved conclusively not merely that fowl cholera is highly destructive to rabbit life, but that the disease will spread itself amongst them rapidly by contagion and infection. It is evident from this memorandum that the agents of M. Pasteur were not satisfied with the experiments which the commission had caused to be made on rabbits in confinement. Those experiments apparently created an impression of failure or partial failure in the minds of the commissioners, and then the agents demanded permission to make a further trial in the open country. Tbo commission refused consent, and nothing further in that direction bad been done up to the time when Mr Bell wrote. It appears that the agreed on series of experiments on rabbits in confinement was not quite concluded, and the commission wished their plan to be carried out in its entirety. But a new series of experiments was to be undertaken at Dodd Island, nnd the conditions would he, as it were, half-way between the laboratory and the open country. Those experiments will not ho completed for some weeks. No doubt the commissionera are making their investigations as exhaustive as they can, and we admit that, ao far, the result is not encouraging iu retorence to M. Pasteur's remedy. Yet knowing the character and reputation of the ttiin, and the boldness of his statements concerning the effects of fowl cholera on rabbits, we atill hesitate ; to admit the T.> a iity of the failure. ; The abstract of Mr Bell's memo- '■ vandum, on which i Ur - remarks are '• based, has been publisbi-3 ia the Wel- : lington papers and telegraphed to a few I of the provincial journals. It makes no allusion to the disease remedy imposed by Dra Ellis and Butcher, whicL was alleged some months ago to havo Leen tried with such immense success on the Tintiniilogy run. But the work of tht 1 couituißsion is not yet nearly accomplished, and the final report will probably not make its appearance till well ou in 18£ ( J,