AUSTRALASIA : NEW ZEALAND. 



643 



can only be given approximately. The subjoined table shows the num- 

 ber of cattle in New Zealand at each census since 1858: 



At the last census Auckland district had 158,181 cattle ; Taranaki, 

 51,846 ; Wellington, 140,951 ; Hawkea Bay, 36,213; Marlborough, 9,919; 

 Nelson, 31,620; Westland, 7,944; Canterbury, 115,155; Otago, 150,150; 

 Southland, 34,205, and Chatham Island 6,883. About 40 per cent, of 

 these cattle consist of Shorthorns and kiildred breeds, and the remain- 

 der of Herefords, Devons, Ayreshires, Normans, Jerseys, and mixed 

 breeds, &c. 



While New Zealand has produced a higher class of cattle than any 

 of the other Australasian colonies, she is only the fourth in the list in 

 regard to the number of head. Taking the census of 1881 as a guide, 

 Queensland had 4,089,715; New South Wales, 1,859,985; Victoria, 

 1,207,088; New Zealand, 698,917; South Australia, 306,046; Tasmania, 

 122,504; Western Australia, 65,473. Total Australasia, 8,429,448. 



With the exception of New Zealand, cattle in the Australasian colo- 

 nies, in spite of every thing said to the contrary, do not thrive as well as 

 io the great cattle districts of the United States, and in regard to num- 

 bers Texas alone has more than half as many cattle as the Australasian 

 colonies put together. 



CATTLE QTJAEANTINE KEGULATIONS. 



All the Australasian colonies except New Zealand had for many 

 years prohibitory laws against the importation of cattle. New Zea- 

 land, on the contrary, admitted cattle not only from Australia but from 

 Europe and America. Last year, however, the government of the 

 colony issued an order in council prohibiting the importation of live 

 stock from the United States. This orderis now very generally admitted 

 to be a mistake. Mr, Eobert J. Creighton, the agent of the New Zea- 

 land government at San Francisco, has repeatedly pointed out that 

 there is no cattle disease such as rinderpest and foot-and-mouth disease 

 on the Pacific coast. He has also shown that the Texas fever, which 

 cattle-breeders fear so much, has for many years been localized. The 

 old plan of driving cattle long distances, and which was the principal 

 cause of the outbreak of the disease, has been" abandoned on account of 

 the facilities afforded for transportation by railway in Texas, New 

 Mexico, and Colorado. The liability to the outbreak of this disease is 

 now reduced to a minimum ; moreover, none of these cattle have access 

 to the blooded herd or dairy stock of the country. 



The question of quarantine is one in which the authorities on cattle 

 diseases differ widely. The quarantine regulations in nearly all coun- 

 tries are so loosely enforced as to be practically worthless, and always 

 occasion a vast amount of trouble and expense. Besides, many diseases 

 of animals, like those of human beings,, are localized. For instance, 

 certain diseases in tropical countries are unknown in cold climates, and 



