192 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Ave., 1899. 
diseased. Some of the companies in New South Wales, the expert above referred to 
said, appoint their own inspectors. In the South Coast at the present time (November, 
1897) there is a creamery inspector who, to my knowledge, killed 35 per cent. of one 
man’s dairy herd which were subject to tuberculosis. It is to be hoped that the com- 
any compensate him. It would be entirely unjust for our Government to start ~ 
Hiceaasie in a hurry, after years of laxity, without compensation. In the Agvicul- 
tural Journal of October, 1898, an account is given from American journals of an 
attempt to stamp out tuberculosis in Massachusetts by Act of Parliament. At first 
half value was given for cattle destroyed, and then full value, as farmers objected. 
Out of 210,000 head 9,844 were suspected for tuberculosis, and only half of these 
reacted. Thus, only 2°4 per cent. of the cattle inspected proved to be diseased. To 
weed out 2,500 badby diseased cattle in four years 10,000 slightly affected had to be 
slaughtered. The whole business cost about £140,000. The cattle killed were worth 
£6 17s. 6d. apiece: half their value was expended in condemning them. Altogether 
the cost of the whole work amounted to £20 ahead. Four out of every five killed 
were but slightly diseased, might have recovered, or were available as healthy meat. 
The whole business was condemned as being a system too utterly unscientific, too 
horribly extravagant, too senseless and impractical to be ever repeated. One paper 
speaking of this positive failure of the radical method, said, “Lastly, in all these years 
the milk or beef from a tuberculous cow has never been positively proven to have been 
the direct cause of consumption in a single human being. The Sear which exists 
has been grossly exaggerated, as shown by the widespread decrease in consumption 
coincident with a large increase in the per capita use of mille American experience ought 
to show the impossibility and absurdity of applying the radical method to Queensland 
which in 1894 had 7,012,997 head of cattle, now about 5,571,292. We must go slowly.” 
The eradication of tubercolosis in stud herds is badly wanted but not only in Queens- 
land. Southern importations and English are Tere responsible for our large per- 
centage here. And to stamp out tuberculosis altogether we should have to stamp out 
many human lives. There is a great deal of gross exaggeration about the dangers 
from milk and bacteria and impure water. Experts differ about the absorbing power 
‘of milk with the animal heat init: typhoid in the Kangaroo Point case was never 
traced to the milk; the laxness of the municipal authorities seems to have been largely 
responsible for that outbreak. Mr. Grimes told the select committee that he saw 
cows which supplied Adeliide with milk grazing in paddocks over which the city 
sewage, not deprived of fecal matter, had flowed a fortnight before, and was told that 
the matter had been thoroughly tested, and that there was no danger of spreadin 
disease from allowing milkers to graze there. From the committee’s report it woul 
appear that typhoid germs are conjectural. There is a good deal of conjectural legis- 
lation in this Dairy Act; for example, those angelic and all-wise inspectors are required 
to administer it if it is not to be a farce. Mr. Mahon, on cross-examination, candid] 
admitted that the inspectors required, were things of the imagination—that he had 
never met in actual life a single man who had all the necessary qualifications. “have 
not the slightest idea who drafted this Bill, but it seems to me a piece of ideal legisla- 
tion—ideal in the sense that it places perfect trust in experts and inspectors; and ideal 
also in the sense that it perfectly distrusts the poor dairyman for whose benefit some 
say itis intended. I cannot close this paper without a few brief suggestions. The 
origin of many existing evils in Queensland is improper centralisation ; the locking up 
of Tats by absolute ownership; the indebtedness of selectors; the want of proper 
labour, and cheap reliable money. We want to catch the farmers’ sons and daughters 
young, and give them proper instruction in cleanliness and improved methods in agri- 
cultural schools scattered over the country, not too expensive for poor men. Instead 
of using inspector-force, we should utilise public opinion. If an expert had the right 
of entering all dairies, which should be registered, he could report to his local chief, 
who, at his discretion, could, after warning, publish in the iat press or agricultural 
journal the names of owners whose dairies were improperly conducted. The Government 
could do much to improve the industry and the breeds of stock without using compulsion 
at all. We want all the science and expert advice we haye, and more, but to allow 
scientific men to dictate, to allow them to administer and to make their part of the 
Government machine, must be bad for experts, bad for the public, and bad for science 
itself. JI must express my admiration for the splendid work our Agricultural Depart- 
ment is doing, and say that I hope it will not mar its usefulness by trying to do things 
it is not fitted to do. ! . ; 
To conclude with a paper on Scandinavian dairying from Sir Edmund Verney’s 
pen:—‘ The Scandinavian farmers, who are steadily under-selling us in our English 
markets, find that a high standard of cleanliness pays. The cattle enjoy better health, 
and the dairy produce commands a higher price. They, therefore, band themselves 
