boundary of the farm, and to the north a further portion of the same 

 farm, in' extent 1770 acres, is held under lease, and on this portion there 

 are 60 more acres of irrigated land. 



The selection of a site was a difficult matter, and it was some time 

 before a suitable one could be found, so that it was not before the end 

 of November, 1906, that the Colonial Government appointed a committee 

 of gentlemen to report and advise as to the purchase. The farm was the 

 freehold of the late Mr. Cornehus Erasmus, but was held under a 

 ninety-nine years' lease by Mr. E. P. A. Meintjes, but these two gentle- 

 men met the Government in a pubhc spirited manner and readily agreed 

 to transfer their interests in the farm at the price it had been valued at. 

 It was accordingly purchased and was taken over by the Veterinary 

 Bacteriological Division immediately. 



In the month of July preceding the Colonial Government had voted 

 £1,500 as a first instalment towards the founding of a new laboratory, 

 so that on the purchase of the farm plans for the new building were at 

 once taken in hand. 



Mr. Charles Murray, the Secretary of the Pubhc Works Department* 

 placed the work in the hands of Mr. Eagle, the Chief Architect of his 

 Department, to whose care and to the untiring efforts of whose staff, it is 

 due that the fine edifice which now stands as a landmark in the surround- 

 ing country is so complete in every detail needed to make a perfectly 

 eq[uipped modern laboratory. 



In the month of March, 1907, the administration of the Colony by 

 the Crown was superseded by a Responsible Colonial Government, and 

 the Eight Hon. Louis Botha, being the first Prime Minister of the Trans- 

 vaal as well as Minister of Agriculture, gave his whole-hearted support 

 to the project, so that in the first session of the new Parhament, a further 

 sum of £'40,000 was voted for the completion of the buildings. From 

 that time the work was rapidly pushed forward, and by the 1st October, 

 1908, the buildings were ready for occupation. 



Although the new laboratories are built on scale that will compare 

 with similar institutions in Europe, and are fitted up with every requisite 

 for research into tropical diseases, it was not always under such auspicious 

 circumstances that the work of the Division was carried on, and it was 

 in very humble surroundings that scientific veterinary research in the 

 Transvaal wa,s first started. 



AYhen in the year 1896 rinderpest devastated South Africa, and caught 

 the Transvaal farmer almost by surprise so that thousands of cattle died, 

 the preventive inoculation then introduced first showed to the farming 

 community of this country the value of scientific treatment 



After the pest had finally been successfully dealt with, the Govern- 

 ment of the late South African Eepublic decided to continue to keep up 

 a small laboratory for scientific research into other diseases of the 



