208 ADMIN1STRATIVF, SECTION 



order called the Tuberculosis Order 1913. This came 

 into force on May i of this year and we have very 

 little material at hand up to the present to enable us 

 to judge of its efficacy. It will not do at this stage 

 to criticize this Order, I do not at any time believe 

 in destructive criticism, and it is admitted in the cir- 

 cular letters issued from the Board that the Order is 

 to a very large extent experimental. I do not believe 

 that the Board of Agriculture expect to achieve very 

 much from this Order, but rather regard it as a pre- 

 liminary to further and more far-reaching measures for 

 dealing with this scourge. 



Those of us who have had much experience of the 

 disease recognize fully that the only satisfactory goal 

 to aim at is complete eradication an apparently 

 superhuman task. We know full well that practically 

 one-third' of the dairy stock of this country are tuber- 

 culous in some degree ; fortunately only a compara- 

 tively small proportion of these are dangerous to either 

 their fellows or human beings, but the magnitude of 

 the work which requires the elimination from our 

 herds of approximately 1,000,000 cows must be recog- 

 nized, and it behoves the authorities to proceed with 

 caution. It has nevertheless been demonstrated that 

 bovine tuberculosis can be eliminated from herds, and 

 that such herds can be kept free from tuberculosis, 

 and it has further been shown that this can be carried 

 out on a commercial basis and not merely as a scien- 

 tific fad. It is to be sincerely hoped that this great 

 work will not be unduly delayed. 



If I may transgress for a moment in conclusion 

 I would say that the whole hope for the future lies in 

 the rising generation of agriculturists. Many subjects 

 of a more or less useful character are taught in our 

 rural schools, but I am strongly of opinion that the 

 subject of animal hygiene should be included. The 

 inculcation of knowledge of the principles governing 

 the development and spread of disease is of the 



