524 VETEEINAEY HYGIENE 



sheep must be dipped, and as far as possible the place dis- 

 infected. 



The quarantine to be imposed on an area may be raised 

 after three months, if no fresh cases of the disease have 

 occurred. 



During the period of quarantine any attempt to remove 

 sheep from the farm must be met by a substantial penalty, 

 and any opposition on the part of the owner to dipping his 

 affected flock, after the expiration of a reasonable time, 

 must be met by the State taking it in hand, and recover- 

 ing from the owner. 



The main principles aimed at here are to compel all sheep 

 owners to dip their sheep, and then by central control 

 grapple thoroughly with every centre of infection, cutting it 

 off from markets, fairs, or any form of live sheep sale, 

 until it is free from disease. 



Failure to notify the existence of scabies must be made 

 the subject of a heavy penalty, as every shepherd knows 

 the clinical features of the disease. Power should exist to 

 inflict severe penalties in those cases where owners have 

 parted by sale with affected sheep, which only act as further 

 centres of infection. 



Purchasers may, however, protect themselves by estab- 

 lishing the systematic dipping of all newly-purchased sheep, 

 before allowing them to mix with their clean flock. Where 

 fresh centres arise as the result of sales, the Veterinary In- 

 spector should prosecute the most rigid inquiry, inspecting 

 all flocks belonging to suspected owners ; in other words, 

 the cases must be traced to their origin, and full punish- 

 ment inflicted. Section 2 of the Act of 1 903 provides for 

 the compulsory inspection of sheep for the purpose of any 

 regulation of the Act. 



All who have given the question of eradication any atten- 

 tion, realize that the measures are best introduced gradually. 

 Professor Wallace suggests two or three years for compul- 

 sory dipping, during which time the farmers seeing its 

 effects, would be won over for the supreme effort of the 

 simultaneous dipping of large areas. There are others who 



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