100 



The aim of the proviso is plainly that anybody importing an 

 animal affected with tuberculosis shall receive no compensation, 

 if the same is found, within six months from the date of importa- 

 tion, to be suffering from tuberculosis, and this again implies 

 that all imported dairy cattle shall be tested prior to the expira- 

 tion of that term, in order to decide their qualifications for in- 

 demnity. The trafficking in tuberculosis cattle which has been 

 carried on here, and the importation of cattle from dairy herds 

 ni California which upon test show 25% reacters (20 reacters 

 out of 79 tested), and of which the 'passed as healthy" ones 

 show 7 reacters out of 30 head tested after they have been in a 

 healthy herd in the Territory for less than four months, would 

 seem to indicate either absolute disregard or else ignorance of 

 the accepted laws which govern the spread of bovine tuberculosis, 

 and as all importers of dairy stock have been warned time and 

 time again, by word of mouth and through published reports 

 and articles against purchasing stock from infected herds — test 

 or no test — it is not likely to be ignorance. 



Mr. W. E. Bellina has for years kept the largest dairy herd 

 in the Territory practically free of tuberculosis, so what induced 

 him to purchase the 50 California cattle, after 20 reacters had 

 been rejected by the inspector, and in addition j)urchased a num- 

 ber of Mr. Chas. Bellina's Halawa herd, is not easily explained, 

 unless he wanted to make certain of infecting his own herd. No 

 compensation was paid for the imported tuberculous animals, nor 

 will any be paid by sanction of this office whether tested before 

 or after the six months period, so long as post-mortem evidence 

 and the history of the imported cattle indicate that they were 

 diseased or infected at the time of purchase. This office will 

 continue to keep en rapport with the Federal Bureau of Animal 

 Industry offices in San Francisco, Portland and Seattle, and all 

 animals purchased from infected herds will be tested before they 

 have been here six months and the reacters destroyed Vv^ithout 

 compensation. The Bovine Tuberculosis Compensation Act 

 (Act 121, S. L. 1917) authorizes and empowers this Board to 

 take measures "for the prompt prevention, suppression and eradi- 

 cation of bovine tuberculosis" and if there has been any doubt 

 about it before, it is now stated most emphatically, that this 

 office will not temporize with any efforts to continue the disease 

 in the Territory. 



Respectfully submitted, 



Victor A. Norgaard, 

 Territorial Veterinarian. 



