712 PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION K. 



accomplished till the City Council generously granted the site of the 

 present University Veterinary School, in Parkville; and, at the 

 instance of the Hon. Geo. Swinburne, then Minister of Agricul- 

 ture, the Government provided the necessary funds to build and 

 maintain the new institution. To Dr. Cameron is due the credit 

 of inducing the Minister to make the grant. 



So, after a struggling on for twenty years, the old college gave 

 place to the new school, and a new regime, under the University 

 Council is now iii full operation. 



During the old regime two applications were made to obtain 

 affiliation with the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons, the first 

 by myself, as principal of the College, in 1896, and the second 

 by the Veterinary Board in 1898; and, in both instances, the reply 

 was that the only bar to this recognition was the absence of a 

 matriculation examination, which had not been provided for in 

 the Veterinary Surgeons Act of Victoria. 



The function of the Veterinary Board has been to administer 

 the Act, and its main duties have been to appoint examiners to 

 examine the students, to register graduates of recognised veterinary 

 schools and colleges, and practitioners who had practised as 

 veterinary surgeons for seven years immediately preceding the pass- 

 ing of the Act, and also to prosecute persons infringing any of 

 the provisions of the Act. 



The disclosures in reference to the large numbers of diseased 

 animals slaughtered at the various abattoirs led to inspection of 

 the principal slaughterhouses, and more recently the Meat and 

 Dairy Supervision Acts, for which the late Dr. Greswell, Chair- 

 man of the Board of Health, and Dr. Cameron were responsible, 

 has been of the utmost value in securing a wholesome food supply 

 for the people and also for export. 



The establishment of both Commonwealth and State Veterinary 

 Departments has been the means of getting all the most serious 

 animal diseases under control, of educating the stock-owners to 

 the necessity of keeping their flocks and herds free from disease, 

 and by adopting the system of inspecting and certifying to the 

 soundness of stallions, the soundness and stamina of our horses 

 is being gradually impi'oved. 



Australian graduated veterinary surgeons now occupy impor- 

 tant Government and other public positions in every State in the 

 Commonwealth as well as in New Zealand, the Straits Settlements, 

 and in London. A large number are doing good work in private 

 practice, and there is a continual demand for good men in both 

 private and public positions. 



During the Boer war some fifteen or sixteen were on active 

 service for the Imperial Government, and were highly appreciated 

 by the Imperial officers, some being retained after the war was 

 over. 



