THE POULTRY ACT, 1924.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XXIX, Issue 6, 20 December 1924, Page 430

THE POULTRY ACT, 1924.

[An Act to regulate the keeping of poultry and the sale and export of poultry and eggs.] 1. This Act may be cited as the Poultry Act, 1924. 2. In this Act, if not inconsistent with the context, “Disease” means tuberculosis, roup, fowl-cholera, chicken-pox, and any other disease affecting poultry which the Governor-General from time to time, by Order in Council, declares to be a disease within the meaning of this Act. “ Eggs ” includes pulped or dried eggs. “ Inspector ” means an Inspector appointed under this Act. “ Owner ” includes the occupier of any premises on which poultry are kept, or are exposed for sale, or are held or stored, and also includes any person having charge of any poultry. Poultry means domestic fowls, ducks, geese, and turkeys, and includes the carcase of any such birds. 3. There may from time to time be appointed such Inspectors, Graders, and other officers or persons as may be required for carrying out the provisions of this Act. 4. An Inspector may at any time enter upon any land or premises or into any conveyance or ship where , he has reason to believe that any poultry or any eggs intended for sale or export may be, and may there inspect for the purposes of this Act any poultry or eggs, or any buildings, equipment, or appliances used in connection with any poultry. 5. All poultry exposed for sale, or held, stored, on any premises, shall be kept under sanitary conditions ; - and an Inspector may, by notice in writing in the form prescribed, require the owner of any poultry, within the time limited in the notice, to remedy any specified defect in such conditions, or to abandon any insanitary practice or the use of any insanitary appliance, or to remove on the grounds specified the poultry from the premises. 6. Every owner of poultry who is guilty of cruelty towards them by reason of overcrowding, or of the failure to provide adequate shelter, food, or drink, or by reason of any other act or default, commits an offence against this Act. 7. (1.) Every owner of poultry shall within twenty-four hours notify an Inspector of any outbreak of disease discovered or suspected amongst his poultry, and shall either forthwith destroy any birds which are diseased or suspected to be diseased, or, as far as practicable, isolate any such birds from other birds. ; (2.) When an Inspector finds that any poultry are diseased he may, by notice in writing in the form prescribed, direct the owner of such poultry to comply with any of the following requirements : (a) Forthwith to destroy in the manner set out in the notice such diseased poultry and any other poultry with which they have come into contact; '(&) not to remove for a period set out in the notice any poultry from the premises on which such diseased poultry was kept ; (c) forthwith to take such other steps for the prevention of the spread of disease as may be set out in the notice. (3.) If any such owner fails to take any measures or do any acts required as aforesaid, the Inspector may himself perform the same at the expense in all things of the owner, who nevertheless shall not thereby be relieved from any liability that he may have incurred under this Act by reason of his default. (4.) Any expenses incurred by an Inspector under the last preceding subsection shall be repaid to the Inspector on demand, and in default thereof the amount of such expenses may be recovered from the owner as a debt due to the Crown. 8. No person shall knowingly sell, or offer or expose for sale, or have in his possession for sale, any poultry which is diseased. 9. For the purposes of this Act every person shall be deemed to sell any poultry or eggs who sells the same either on his own account or as the agent or servant of any other person, and in the case of any sale by an agent or servant his principal or employer shall be under the same liability as if he had effected the sale personally. 10. Every person who obstructs any Inspector or other officer in the performance of his duties, or who fails to comply with any direction given by an Inspector or with any of the provisions of this Act, or who commits any offence against this Act, shall be liable on summary conviction to a fine of twenty pounds.

11. The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, (a) declare any disease of poultry to be a disease within the meaning of this Act; (6) specify the ports from which alone poultry or eggs shall be exported ; (c) appoint stores at which poultry or eggs shall be graded. 12. The Governor-General may from time to time, by Order in Council, make regulations for all or any of the following matters, that is to say : (a) Prescribing the sanitary requirements that must be observed in the keeping of poultry, or holding or storing poultry on any premises, or in the carriage of poultry ; (b) regulating the marketing of poultry and of eggs for consumption in New Zealand, and providing for the grading and packing of such poultry and eggs ; (c) regulating the export of poultry or of eggs, and providing for the grading and packing of poultry and of eggs for export from New Zealand ; (d) prescribing reasonable charges for the grading of poultry or eggs or for other services rendered by officers under this Act; (e) prescribing forms of notice and other forms required under this Act ; (/) generally providing for such matters as are contemplated or deemed necessary for giving full effect to this Act.