Importation of Stock

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume 59, Issue 2, 15 August 1939, Page 135

Importation of Stock

Scope of Amending Regulations

A. E. MORRISON,

Solicitor, Department of Agriculture.

r T~’HE purpose of the Stock ImportaTHE purpose of the Stock Importa- £ tion Amending Regulations, 1939, enacted under the Stock Act, 1908, is to amend the principal regulations made under that Act on the 4th October, 1915, in the following manner. The regulations prohibit the introduction of horses, asses, and mules from the United States of America and Canada, and the introduction of asses from France, Spain, and Portugal, which was formerly permitted under the principal regulations. This action is necessitated by the incidence of a virus disease known as equine encephalomyelitis among horses in the United States of America and Canada, which has caused considerable mortality among horses in those countries, and by the prevalence of foot and

mouth disease on the Continent of Europe. The principal regulations have been further amended to permit horses, asses, and mules to be introduced into New Zealand from the United Kingdom and Eire without undergoing on arrival in New Zealand the Mallein test or the period of quarantine prescribed, provided that the animals are certified to be free from infectious and contagious diseases prior to shipment and are found on arrival in the Dominion to be free from disease. The introduction of sheep from Canada is sanctioned by the regulations, provided a permit is issued by the Minister of Agriculture. Such sheep must be accompanied by a statutory declaration made by the shipper

declaring (1) that they have been continuously in Canada for the three months immediately preceding shipment or from birth; and (2) that they have been during that period and are at the time of shipment free from all infectious and contagious diseases, and have not during the same period been in direct or indirect contact with any stock suffering from or infected with any infectious or contagious disease. In addition, there must be inscribed on the declaration a certificate signed by a veterinarian in the employ of the Dominion Government of Canada certifying that he has examined the sheep within fourteen days prior to the date of shipment and found them free from all infectious or contagious diseases, and that during that period the sheep were dipped under his supervision in a sheep-dipping preparation approved by him. The regulations also permit dogs from Australia to be landed at the port of New Plymouth in addition to the other ports specified in the principal regulations, and authorise the application of the Johnin test as well as the tuberculin test to cattle while they are in quarantine. w