PERSONAL. 
Supervision Bill. The passage of that legislation was marked by the 
abolition of 36 out of 43 of the private slaughter-houses previously in 
existence around Melbourne, and by the concentration of slaughtering 
in properly constructed and strictly supervised abattoirs. It was also 
immediately followed by the compulsory branding, after inspection, 
of all meat fit for human consumption. Big changes affecting the 
.general welfare of a community are sometimes effected quietly. In 
this case, a complete revolution was carried out, and the methods of 
handling one of our most important foodstuffs was entirely altered. 
‘Previously, there was practically no check upon the activities of the 
slaughterman, and very few safeguards against the consumption of 
diseased meat. Frequently foul and insanitary premises were used, 
and all was grist that came to the mill. Rigid inspection now enforces 
the observance of clean conditions and the destruction of harmful meat. 
This public health reform was closely followed by another of similar 
importance—the passage of the Dairy Supervision Act. The difficulties 
in this case, however, were greater. The number of dairymen who 
would be affected by Government interference was very great, and the 
problem of providing adequate supervision was much more complex. 
The responsibility of evolving a scheine whereby not only might 
the public interest be served, but that existing private interests might 
not be too hardly and, perhaps, unfairly dislocated, fell upon Dr. 
Oameron’s shoulders. His knowledge of the technicalities of both aspects 
of the problem, however, enabled him to create smooth-working and 
effective machinery, and he was therefore transferred to the Depart- 
ment-of Agriculture to administer the Act. 
Upon his appointment as Director of Agriculture in 1911, Dr. 
Cameron decided upon the re-organization of the Department, and he 
did not seruple to make drastic alterations. Having himself had a 
scientific training, he fully realized the value of the scientist. His 
early experiences on his father’s farm, and a year’s course in Agriculture 
at the Edinburgh University, taken concurrently with his veterinary 
studies, had also furnished him with considerable practical knowledge 
of agriculture. Of more importance still, it enabled him to take the 
practical man’s view-point. Having gathered the best available men 
around him, he was therefore able to direct their energies in full 
sympathy with the farmer’s outlook, realizing that friendly co-operation 
between the scientist and the farmer must be obtained if either was to 
do effective work. A distinet change now marks the attitude of the 
one to the other, and a vast amound of good has been accomplished. 
Probably the best known of the many reforms which Dr. Cameron 
has personally carried out since his association with the Department 
of Agriculture was the issue of Government certificates of soundness for 
stallions. He sueceeded, against strong opposition, in securing the 
examination of stallions for hereditary unsoundness. This was in the 
days before he was Director, and the fight which he put up, and finally 
won, for the adoption of this principle marked him out as a man having 
the courage of his convictions. It also stamped him as a man of sound 
initiative, for since the practice was first introduced in Victoria in 1907, 
it has extended to many other stock-raising countries. It has been 
adopted in both England and Scotland, and: in many of the States of 
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