POULTRY AND PIGEON NOTES.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 5762, 5 January 1897, Page 3

POULTRY AND PIGEON NOTES.

[By Ovo in "Canterbury Times."] There has been some correspondence in the daily papers with reference to keeping poultry in the town. It is alleged — certainly with truth— that fowls, ducks and' geese are kept without any attention to cleanliness, and disease must be generated and spread by this want of cleanliness. A correspondent, " Papanui," urges that "every 'householder should protest against his neighbour having fowlhouses or runs erected against the dividing fences or walls of an outbuilding. Mr Henderson, the writer of the Government pamphlet on poultry, ought to have known more than to give an official sanction to such insanitary advice, which is condemned by every poultry raiser and veterinary surgeon. Fowlhouses are considered by many people as a vast dust-bin, full of bones, fish, and smelling remnants. The necessity of some inspection is so evident that men collecting fowl manure for industrial purposes refuse to take it in town on account of the filthiness of the places— swarming with lice and fleas. Diseased birds were sold last week by auction without any steps being taken against the offenders. A poultry inspector ought to be appointed besides the Board of Health's officers, with the right to inspect fowl yards exactly a3 our factory inspector does factories." Mr Smith, of Sydney, who judged pigeons at the Wellington Show two seasons ago, has been appointed to act in a similar capacity atthe next Christchurch Show.

The Christchurch Flying Club intends holding races from Wellington, Masterton, and Nelson shortly. A few weeks back Mr F. Butterfleld, Caledonian Eoad, St Albans, had a bird return home from the West Coast after an absence of two years. He would be glad to hear from the owner. The bird is a blue, and was sold to Mr F. Dacre to go to the Coast.

The Tasmanian Mail in some remarks on the photos of the first three birds in the Invercargill-Christchurch race, says that the likenesses "clearly show the difference between the colonial breeds, of which the first and second birds were specimens, and of the Belgian type, imported into New Zealand last year, to which the third bird belongs. The winner, Ballyhooly, is a chubby looking fellow with a determined looking head and eyes, and smart carriage. At first glance he reminds one not a little of the Tasmanian owned Waterfall. The Belgian bird is higher set, flatter on the head, and is wonderfully short in the wings."