| BOVINE TUBERCULOSIS AND ITS REPRESSION. 
) 
After describing the symptoms of the disease in cattle, and discussing 
the various diagnostic procedures, Professor Stewart outlined the 
different measures taken in other countries to repress animal tuber- 
‘eulosis, and compared those which obtain in this State. There are no 
less than eight legislative measures (six State and two Federal) that 
contain provisions that directly or indirectly aid in the control of 
animal tuberculosis, administered by four separate departments, all of 
which have special staffs. The provisions of the Federal Quarantine 
Act prevent the introduction of tuberculous animals from oversea; those 
of the Stock Act from other States. The object of the provisions of 
the Cattle Slaughtering and Diseased Animals and Meat Act, the Meat 
Industry Act, and the Federal,;Commerce Act is the protection of public 
health by preventing the consumption of tuberculous meat, and the best 
guarantee that can be offered the community of the protection conferred 
in this connexion is the employment of a sufficient number of inspectors 
of the highest training. Yet we find that on the staff of the Metropoli- 
tan Meat Board there are but two qualified veterinary officers, who are 
almost entirely engaged at the Homebush Abattoirs; while the Com- 
monwealth Service has a like number supervising the inspection of 
exported meat at different centres. The smallness of these staffs, when 
compared with those employed by other countries, clearly indicates 
that the system of inspection as carried out by both the Federal and 
State Governments is capable of considerable improvement. The 
inspection of meat is essential for the protection of public health by 
providing for the safe disposal of affected parts and organs. To be 
effective, the standard of training for the staff must be high. Efficient 
inspection is also desirable from the stock-owners’ point of view, as it 
prevents unnecessary loss by the destruction of wholesome meat in 
localized affections. It is not a simple matter to distinguish im every 
case meat that is dangerous from that which is wholesome, and the 
inspector must be guided by his pathological knowledge. The more 
extensive the technical knowledge of the inspector is, the less liability 
is there of erroneous judgment. An efficient system is also necessary 
to facilitate the tracing of infected herds and for the collection of 
reliable statistics to determine the incidence of the disease from time 
to time, in order to judge as to progress being made. 
_ “Manifest,” or evident tuberculosis, is dealt with under the provi- - 
sions of the Stock Diseases (Tick) Act by the Department of Agricul- 
ture (Stock Branch), on the staff of which.are six veterinary officers. 
_ The Stock Branch, however, does not carry out the systematic inspection _ 
of herds as a routine procedure, but deals with individual cases reported 
to or detected by its inspectors. hee 
The local authorities are charged with the administration of the 
Dairies Supervision Act, under the direction and supervision of the 
Board of Health. The provisions of the Act have now been extended 
to practically the whole of the populated portion of the State, and 
within a municipality the local authority is the council thereof; but 
outside municipal areas, the local authority is the Police Magistrate, 
or senior police officer. The qualifications of the officer inspecting 
dairy cattle for the local authority is not specified, and, owing to the’ 
many difficulties that arose in connexion with the administration of the 
Act, the Board of Health created a special staff of dairy inspectors to 
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