14 



as regards the Contiueutal treatment of this and other diseases 

 in stock. It was through him also that I met with Mr. Priest- 

 man, veterinary surgeon, Caledonian Eoad, London, who has a 

 large and increasing practice in inoculation among the dairy cattle 

 in the city and .suburbs. He, too, was at onetime opposed to 

 the operation, and only commenced it when he found that his 

 ordinary practice, which had been principally among dairy cowa 

 affected with pleuro-pneumonia, was leaving him through the 

 dairymen inoculating their cows and thus saving them from in- 

 fection. Mr. Priestman has within a comparatively short period 

 inoculated about 1,000 cows with uniform success. 



I was introduced by Sir Charles Cowper to Dr. Williams, 

 Secretary for Her Majesty's Veterinary Department, London, 

 and to Professor Brown, Chief Inspector of Stock for that De- 

 partment ; and both gentlemen atibrded me every assistance in 

 their power in obtaining the information I required. "With 

 respect to inoculation. Professor Brown, although his predecessor 

 in office had always been strongly opposed to that operation, ad- 

 mitted to me in JDecember last that the belief in its efficacy was 

 gaining ground in England, and that the best course which could 

 be adopted with infected cattle in Australia was to inoculate 

 them. This change of opinion has no doubt been brought about 

 to some extent by the weight of professional opinion on the Con- 

 tinent, and by the reports of the success of inoculation in these 

 Colonies ; but it is more especially due to the proof obtained by 

 Mr. Evans and others of its efficacy in the London dairies, to 

 which allusion has already been made. 



(3.) — Law in Great Britain with eegaed to PLEUEO-PNEmoNiA. 



In G-reat Britain, the law as it now stands requires that all 

 cattle infected with pleuro-pneumonia should be slaughtered, and 

 the owner is allowed compensation at the rate of one half of their 

 value, up to but not exceeding £20 a head. As, however, the 

 carrying out of the Act, instead of being intrusted, as it is in 

 these Colonies, to a central authority, is left to the ditferent Local 

 Boards throughout the country — who, in the majority of cases, 

 are Magistrates of towns and boroughs, and who, of course, have 

 no iutei-est in nor care for the health of stock — the provisions of 

 the Act are seldom enforced, and the law is all but a dead letter, 

 while pleuro-pneumonia is nearly as rife as ever throughout the 

 length and breadth of the land. 



It is to this cause, coupled with the fact that it was optional 

 for these local authorities to put in force the regulations relating 

 to foot and mouth disease, that that ailment was allowed to spread 

 as it did all over Grreat Britain, and that it has not been com- 

 pletely eradicated. It will thus be seen that the mode of dealing 

 with infectious diseases in stock in these Colonies is far more 

 thorough and effective than that followed in Great Britain. 



