EDITORIAL. 
NEW SHEEP DISEASE IN WESTERN AUSTRALIA. 
During the past two years, Professor Dakin, of the University of 
Western Australia, has been engaged upon an investigation into a sheep 
disease which made its appearance in Western Australia four or five 
years ago, Although he has arrived at no definite conclusion as to the 
nature of the disease, his inquiries point to the conclusion that it is the 
same as the so-called Braxy-like diseases of New South Wales, Victoria, 
and Tasmania, which has already caused considerable monetary loss. 
Professor Dakin is now on a visit to Great Britain, and in order to 
enable him to prosecute his investigations still further, the Institute 
of Science and Industry, in co-operation with the Western Australian 
Government, has arranged to contribute to the travelling expenses 
incurred. He proposes to get into touch with the Departments of 
Agriculture of England, Ireland, Scotland, and Norway. Professor: 
Dakin’s services, however, will be given gratuitously, and he will make: 
a thorough study of the occurrence of Braxy in Europe. 
PEARL-SHELL INDUSTRY. 
Conflicting views are taken of the future of the pearl-shell industry 
of Australia. In the twelve months prior to the outbreak of war, 
Australia’s exports were valued at £350,000, and in 1912 they exceeded 
£500,000. The preservation of the industry, therefore, is a matter of 
some moment. The opinion was recently expressed by a merchant 
interested in the trade that unless certain areas were closed, many of the 
beds would quickly become exhausted, and that already much of the 
shell now being recovered was of inferior quality. The Board of Trade 
recently referred the matter to the Institute for consideration, but when 
inquiries were instituted, it was found that no exact information was 
available. Mr. Charles Hedley, of the Australian Museum, expressed 
agreement generally with the principle of closing the beds periodically. 
_“ Luckily for the continuity of the Australian pearl fishery,” he wrote, 
“it has never paid to lift the last ton of shell. If it became profitable: 
to do so the beds would be stripped of their last oyster and the race 
would be exterminated. In practice, a natural closure is automatically 
effected as fishing ceases to be remunerative. It is to be noted that 
under these conditions a remnant of breeding stock is preserved, not 
from any regard for future reproduction, but merely by accident and 
inaccessibility. But economic conditions may change. The price: of 
shell may rise, while the methods of collecting may improve and cheapen. 
Then it would pay to strip the beds closer and closer, in other words, to 
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