EEPOKT OF THE BUEEAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTKY. 501 



(2) Returns of all stock in the colony are annually rendered to me, and these con- 

 firm the statements of the owners that when the wave of infection is gradually 

 passing across the colony, those herds that have been inoculated lose few if any by 

 deaths, whilst the losses in conterminous herds of non-inoculated cattle are very 



heavy. 



Very serious losses occur amongst uninoculated store cattle while being traveled 

 from non-infected districts of northern Queensland to the southern colonies, while 



(3)' 



traveling through infected centers ; the journey in many instances extends over a 

 period of six months. During the present season some of the losses have exceeded 

 26 per cent, in mobs of 1,000 head. Whereas, when the cattlehave been inoculated 

 prior to starting on their journey the losses have been nil, even when traveled over 

 a main stock-traveling route strewn with carcasses of cattle that have succumbed to 

 the disease. This is so well known to professional drovers that they will not under- 

 take to drive uninoculated cattle on the usual terms of a fixed bonus per head on all 

 cattle delivered at their destination. 



(4) In the southern colonies of New South Wales and Victoria many runs are 

 used exclusively for fattening store cattle, and their owners are solely dependent on 

 the herds of Queensland for their annual supplies of store cattle. Guided by long 

 experience these graziers readily pay from 10 to 15 shillings more per head for in- 

 oculated than for uninoculated cattle, and consequently the " inoculation ear mark " 

 has acquired a commercial value. 



(5) About twenty years ago pleuro-pneumonia was introduced into New Zealand 

 by some cattle shipped from Newcastle, New South Wales, and infected a portion 

 of the cattle on the principal island of that colony. That outbreak was completely 

 stamped out by inoculation, and no case of the disease has since been known in any 

 portion of New Zealand. This fact appears in the official records of proceedings of 

 the conference of chief inspectors and veterinarians of all the colonies, held at Syd- 

 ney in September last. 



(6) Towards the end of last year a pedigree-stud herd in this colony was inocu- 

 lated at the request of the owner (under my directions as to selection of virus and 

 mode of operation), and before any of the cattle on the run had been infected. On 

 the same run there is a general mixed herd of cattle, none of which were inocu- 

 lated. Pleuro has since passed through the run with the result that whilst the 

 deaths in the general herd have been heavy the stud herd has maintained a complete 

 immunity from the disease. 



Since 1858, when the disease was first introduced into Australia, up to 1880, al- 

 though it was constantly present in some portions of the Australian colonies, the 

 losses from it gradually decreased until at the last-named date they did not exceed 

 5 per cent, on the whole of the cattle on the continent. In most districts i per cent, 

 more than covered the loss. During that period inoculation was practiced gener- 

 ally throughout all the colonies, and was resorted to in all districts in which the 

 disease had obtained a footing. The losses were so very trifling that the stock-own- 

 ers believed that since the disease had become acclimated (as it were) it had assumed 

 such a mild form that the casualties from it would become in time almost imper- 

 ceptible. In 1881 commenced an unprecedented drought, which continued with 

 very great severity up to June of last year. In consequence of this, and of the 

 mildness of the attacks of pleuro, inoculation was completely suspended from 1880 

 until very recently. Since the breaking up of the drought pleuro has appeared with 

 very great virulence all over the colonies, and the losses have been very much heav- 

 ier than at any previous period during which inoculation was practiced. 



I am aware that where cattle are housed, or are artificially fed and thoroughly 

 under control, as in England, and as they are (as I understand) in the older settled 

 States of America, the disease can best be controlled by the pole-ax ; but such a 

 mode of dealing with it would be an utter impossibility in Queensland, where the 

 four and a half millions of cattle roam over the natural pasturage in a state of na- 

 ture. 



In our dairy herds, on the coast water-shed, near to cities and towns, inoculation 

 was, until -within the last few years, regularly practiced, and not a single case of 

 pleuro has been reported to me, or any member of my staff, from any of these 

 dairies, for fifteen yeafs, until three weeks ago, when the disease broke out in a dairy 

 herd, 8 miles from this city, in consequence of contact with a few infected cattle 

 purchased in the public sale yards, and none of the inoculated cattle have yet shown 

 the disease, although in contact with the infection. It is possible, however, that 

 this latter statement may be premature, and that the disease may affect the whole 

 herd. 



From my long experience and careful observation of the effects of inoculation I 

 am convinced that were some effectual means discovered of preserving the visus of 

 pleuro-pneumonia, or of cultivating it apart from the living subject (as has been 



