THE OUTBKEAK OF ANTHRAX.

Gisborne Times, Volume IX, Issue 715, 10 January 1903, Page 3

THE OUTBKEAK OF ANTHRAX.

NECESSITY FOR ACTION.

(Special to Press.) Wellington, Jan. 5.

The outbreak of anthrax in the South “ Island is regarded as a very serious mat- a ■Ter. The disease is a most deadly one, TbjiFin addition to being fatal to stock, it t! is often fatal to human life. Once estab- t! fished in a district it is very difficult to a eradicate. Many cattle have died of it in h the Auckland district, many moro indeed than tho Agricultural Department has t knowlodge of, because a good deal of the 11 mortality in stock from the cause is never y reported. Experts state that it will bo d next to impossible to stamp tho disease r out of tho Auckland province. 0 Towards the end of the session of 1901 v a deputation of members of Parliament t waited on the Minister for Agriculture in j reference to tho outbroak of anthrax, and t urged that steps should be taken for its s suppression. At that time the Minister y must have been fully informed of the j spread of the disease. He said the matter 0 had been under consideration, but he had t not had time to arrive at a decision. ] However, they wero awaro of the import- j ance of tbe matter, aDd would again take e it. into consideration and seo if they could t not arrive at something that would be satisfactory. He thought the only remedy j was to'provent tho importation of crushed , bones altogether. 1 Later, at tho annual conference of dole- ; gates of Auckland agricultural societies, the subject was discussed at some length, j Mr Gilruth delivered an address giving do- . tails of the various outbreaks in New Zoaland. Everything, he said, referring to the 1895 outbreak, pointed to the introduction of the disease by bonedust, tbe diseased animal having been feeding on a field of turnips manured with bonedust. In 1899 cases oeourred in the Bay of Plenty from the same cause, and in this ease tho farmer himself contracted the disease and died. In the same year there wero three cases in Taranaki, and in each caso the samo manure was foqnd to have been used on the land. He went on to say that the bones of one animal that had died of anthrax in a shipload of bonedust would bo sufficient to infect tbo whole province. Speaking on the same subject, Mr Clifton, Stock Inspector, mentioned a case where a shipload of bones from Australia had been certified as having been steamed, and it was conclusively proved not to havo been steamed at all; in fact, tbo place wbero the shipment came from had not even a plant for steaming bones. So far information has been received of , eight outbreaks of anthrax in the Auckland district, and the occurrence of another outbroak at a place so far distant as Southland is regarded by tho authorities as conclusively bearing out the theory held all along that it is duo to imported 3 bonodust, which has not been sufficiently sterilised, or Dot sterilised at all. The ® quantity of bonedust imported into the “ colony is very considerable, being someB thing like 20,000 tons a year. The mat- ? ter was mentioned more than once during K tho last session of Parliament, and the 10 Minister was urged by members on both sides of the House to take action. HowJ? ever, apparently nothing has been done.