STATE HYGIENE 517 



large industry, the financial loss from this disease is ex- 

 treme ; so much has this been the ease that Australia and 

 New Zealand realizing the importance of getting rid of the 

 scourge, practically banished it from the country by well- 

 conceived regulations. 



In this respect they are a profound object-lesson to the 

 parent country, which has tolerated the existence of 

 scabies among flocks for probably hundreds of years.* 



One of the earliest Acts on the Statute Book referring to 

 the repression of contagious diseases among animals, deals 

 with sheep scabies. It was issued in the year 1798, and 



* The Board of Agriculture having been approached by the Central 

 Chambers of Agriculture on the necessity for freeing Great Britain from 

 Sheep Scabies, were asked that the disease might be dealt with on the 

 successful lines adopted in Australia and New Zealand. Advantage 

 was taken by the Assistant Secretary in the Annual Report of the 

 Animals Division of the Board of Agriculture 1902, to explain that it 

 is a misconception of the facts to say that Australia and New Zealand 

 adopted compulsory dipping, irrespective of the suspicion of the exist- 

 ence of sheep scab. He states the Colonial Regulations fail to show 

 that any such precaution was adopted. Compulsory dipping was 

 apparently confined to flocks in which a suspicion of scab existed, and 

 success was evidently in large measures due to well directed restrictions 

 on the movements of sheep. 



The President of the Board of Agriculture deprecates taking any 

 further action towards getting rid of Sheep Scab, but recommends local 

 authorities to make more use of the powers given them in order to 

 prevent its spread. In the Report of the Assistant Secretary of the 

 Animals Division for 1901, the following remarkable paragraph occurs : 



'The progress hitherto made in dealing with the disease (Sheep 

 Scab) in Great Britain has caused comparatively little inconvenience to 

 trade generally, and if that progress is maintained for a few years, and 

 the disease is then found to exist in only a small portion of the country, 

 vigorous measures might no doubt, vnth great advantage, be adopted, 

 to bring about its final extinction. It is, however, for flock masters 

 themselves to consider whether they would prefer the stronger measures 

 at once, or whether they are prepared for a time to cripple the sheep 

 trade generally, in order to anticipate by a few years the disappearance 

 of sheep scab.' 



Such is the official opinion expressed in the Report for the year 1901, 

 and with it is presented a map of Great Britain showing only 14 counties 

 free from the disease ! 



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