Darling Downs Gazette and General Advertiser (Toowoomba, Qld. : 1858 - 1880), Wednesday 1 February 1865, page 4


NON-INFECTIOUSNESS OF PLEURO-PNEUMONIA.

Another testimony to the uselessness of continuing to prohibit the introduction of cattle from New South Wales, has been afforded by Mr. J. B. Hughes, who has reported the subject of pleuro-pneumonia to the Government of South Australia. He says — "It is an epidemic. It comes and goes as Asiatic cholera did in England. All that is known of it is that it

is frequently most partial and extraordinary in its visita-tions, that no precaution is known that will effectually guard against it, and that if you try to give it to a beast you can't surely do so. That you cannot tell when a dis-eased beast has pleuro-pneumonia was proved to me when I saw a herd being inoculated, when nine or ten animals showing outward signs of lung disease and inflammation were slaughtered for a supply of inoculation matter ; but not one had pleuro-pneumonia. The certain characteristic of the disease is a dark liver-coloured appearance when you cut into a lung, and the yellow streaks— like those in a gold-veined marble mantelpiece— that run through the substance of lung : in addition to this, in the later stages, the lung adheres to the ribs, and then rots away. This description will indicate the disease to any non-professional person. To show that the disease is neither infectious nor contagious, I can state that I have known seven or eight milkers' calves penned or housed at night in a close covered calf-pen for months together. One or two of those calves would have the disease, and linger on for weeks, and then die of it. The other calves have lived on free from disease, though nightly in the same pen with the diseased ones. I have known a cow die of the disease, yet its young calf grew up free of it. I have known a young calf die of

it, and the cow that suckled it live free, though daily lick-ing or smelling the calf while ill. I have known experi-enced cattle dealers come on the station and select a draft of prime sleek cattle, yet some of these cattle have laid down before travelling ten miles, and died within twenty-four hours of their selection." The columns of the Adelaide Register contain some re-marks on the subject of inoculation. Mr. Hughes replies that "The best plan is to put the cows into a bail, or bush cattle into a crush pen ; then take bold of the tail with the left hand close to the end, then separate the hairs about three inches from the end of the tail, and hold them apart with the forefinger and thumb so as to show the skin, then with a sharp pocket knife, cut through the skin along the tail for an inch, until the blood shows slightly but does not run. The finger and thumb holding the hair apart will cause the cut to open, then with a fine hair-brush paint the inoculating matter into the cut. If the cut bleeds it washes the matter out ; if it is too deep it injures the bone of the tail, and causes such violent inflammation that it generally rots if the inoculation acts strongly." Mr. Hughes be-lieves, with regard to inoculation, that '"if it does any good, it does it on homoeopathic principles, by causing violent inflammation of the tail and rump, and so counter acting the inflammation of the disease in the chest." He re marks further—"I believe that if cattle that are taken ill with the disease are placed by themselves in a sheltered paddock and left quiet, four-fifths of them will recover, and that those that are supposed to be recovered by inoculation, would have recovered without it if left alone. I believe that if people will not leave their sick cattle alone in a paddock, the next best thing they can do is to give a purg-ing dose and bleed ; but never to kill a beast because it looks ill, for I have known them apparently at their last gasp, or hopelessly near it, and a week after recovering, feeding, and then going on and fattening rapidly. These

remarks may tend to allay the alarm existing among cattle-holders. They are the convictions I have arrived at from my own very considerable experiesoe of the disease, and from medical men, veterinarians and cattle owners, who have also had much to do with it. It will be found here, as at the Caps and in Victoria, that pleuro-pneumonia will pass through districts as cholera or influenza — it will spread in a mysterious inscrutable manner, and gradually pass away and disappear as it came.'' The value of land in London is rising to an almost fabu-lous standard. It was recently given in evidence before Mr. Commissioner Kerr that for property in the city as much as £2,000,000 an acre had been obtained. ?i JbaiMM fcujgJ^^Bae SAw»jpjMjapifcj»«B loading

GERMAN UNION IN BRISBANE.—We are glad to learn that our German friends resident in Brisbane are actively bestirring themselves in various schemes of social progress. Many years ago they formed in this city a charitable so-ciety for the aid of those amongst their fellow-countrymen whom sickness or poverty might have overtaken. This society they have steadily supported without appeal to their fellow-colonists of any other nationality ; and though German frugality and German industry have been power-ful aids to the comfort of those people, and have in gene-ral made then independant of charitable aid even from their own, yet there have been instances in which this so-ciety has silently and unobtrusively done much good. The seventh annual meeting of this society was held on Monday evening last, and it affords us much gratification to be able to state that both its general management and

present financial condition prove to be most satisfactory, The report and financial statement brought up on this oc-casion were deemed satisfactory and adopted accordingly, and the members of the society then elected for the ensu-ing year a new committee and officers. We are also in-formed that the lately formed Lidertael, or German Singing Club, which has been established under the management of Herr Kopp, has met with great success. Its members are now very numerous, and as they are most assiduous at practice, we look forward to public display ere long of Ger-man musical talent, both vocal and instrumental. A rifle club has also been formed, and we have authority to state that a movement, likely to be very successful, is on foot for the purchase of a piece of land by the German societies within convenient distance of Queen-street. On the land in question it is proposed to erect buildings which will be suitable for the purposes of the various German Clubs, and it gives as much pleasure to learn that a first-class gym-nasium is to form a principal part of the intended edifice. It gives us great pleasure to note those signs of social com-fort and profit amongst the German residents of Brisbane. — Guardian. FLEtmo-FKErmoirfA iTKin KoCEmtrpioir. — Wo are told, and prefer believing the report to seeking nasal corrobora tion, that a short stage of eleven miles from town will bring us within scent of the effluvia produced by the destruction of a thousand head of cattle, forming part of a travelling mob near Rabottom's, destroyed by order of the Inspector of Fleuro-Fneumonia. Though it is painful to have to re cord such a loss, it must not be forgotten, that the law per mits of no option in the matter, and that Mr. Gordon's fiat oi kill must follow his perception of the dreadful disease. It seems strange, with so many evidenoes of the

utility of inoculation around us, that Buch a preventive is not more frequently tried. Neither the cost nor the labor of the operation are great, while the method of performing it can be acquired with ease. Under the dread of the serious losses resulting from infection, it should surely be worth while to grasp at any reasonable] hope of relief ; and many experienced cattle proprietors have attributed their freedom from pleuro-pneumouia, even when surrounded by infected runs, solely to the precaution adopted by them of inoculating their stock prior to the appearance of disease. —BuW-tin. The Thicks or A Doublk-dkaler.— The yarn of the double-headed shilling, treated in the first instance as a myth by those of the community whose purity lea'Js them to doubt the existence of villainy, has been beautifully sub stantiated by a chain of fortuitous circumstances. Time, place, date, and remarkable winnings pointed to thp man ; the machine or vehicle of roguery has 'turned itself up in the shape of a coin passed as change at one of our stores. The shilling, or one of the shillings — for the artist has evi dently dispensed several— is in the possession of Mr. R. H. D. White, of the Bank of New SoW.h Wales, and bears upon either side the familiar head. The process of manufacture seems remarkably ingenious, and somewhat as follows : — The centre of the ordinary shilling is cut from the shilling, and in its place is fixed the two head halves of pjilit shillings, so firmly and neatly that save for the sin gularity of two heads, and adulness of the ring When tried, no one could detect the trickery. We are assured that the patron of the artist has been kicked out of Clifton, and

intends coming to Kockhauipton, in which case the only to.is'ms he should lie ]x-rmitted to exercise would be that in a blanket.— Ibid Hr.Dvcrios is tfie Tbice of FLonR.— It will be observ ed by advertisement that the price of fiour at the mill has been reduced from £4u to £30 per ton, consequent upon the introduction into the market of our district produce. In addition to this large reduction of 25 per cent, in price, the qn»lity of flour is much superior to that lately import ed and sold at £40 per ton. Sorely this is encouraging to the farmers of this district, who can furnish the market with a better and cheaper article than any that can be im ported. It must also be observed that the farmers obtain ed this year 2s. a bushel] more for their wheat than they did last year, owing to its superior quality ; and if the far mers will only put in their crops a little earlier, not only will the consumption of foreign fiour be considerably re duced, hut the wheat will be less liable to catch rust. We understand that this year's success will cause the growth of more wheat next year, sd as to supply our own local de mand ; but we must not stop even here. There is ahunp dant scope here for profitable farming to meet the consum tion of the entire Darling Downs, and not only so, but, with the completion of the railway to Warwick, to supply the metropolis with a large quantity of flour. Here is one great and important argument for railway extension to Warwick, and we hope our legislators will not close their eyes to the immense advantages which would accrue to the colony generally by the carrying out of this desirable work. Before closing this notice it is due to Messrs. Chaa. Clark and Co., to state that they have been the principal agents in bringing about the present satisfactory state of agricul ture in this distict by affording aid and encouragement to many farmers during former seasons of failure. They have also reduced the price of flour, when it is well known they have the monopoly of the market in their own hands. — Wancick Argut. THE WARREGO AND MITCHELL ELECTIONS. — Writs have been issued for the election of a member each for the new districts of Warrego and Mitchell. The nomination will take place, in both cases, on the 18th March, and the polling on the 25th March. Charleville is the place of no-mination, for the Warrego district, and Allan's Head Station for the Mitchell. LIVE FENCING. — A correspondent of the Melbourne Ar-gus says : — Now that so much is being spent in encouraging new industries, Government might do a great deal of good if they would encourage by their example the cultivation of good fences. They have now a large extent of fencing along their railway lines— something over 400 miles, the value of which at say 7s. per rod, would be £112 per mile, or, in all, £14,800. This is a large amount of money to

be invested in fencing, which is gradually decaying, nine years is understood to be the time generally allowed for fences to stand good ; after that they cost as much in re-pairs as if they were pulled down and re-erected. If we divide the total cost of the railway fences by nine, we see that the annual loss is about £500 ; and if the same amount was spent in hedges what beautiful fences we should have. The cost at home for keeping hedges cleaned and trimmed is about 60s. per mile. Say that it would here cost double that amount, £5 per mile— our yearly loss on the present fencing is £12 per mile, thus leaving a large margin to cover the first expense in planting and rearing. If it would be a gain for Government to plant fences, it would be next to useless to go over the advantages to the country at large which would result. People would then see (what a great many now doubt) that it is possible to get live fences ; and there can be no doubt that in a few years we should see all over the country this new and most useful industry established. TRAGICAL OCCURRENCE. — Writing to the Mercury of the 9th instant, its Walgett correspondent says : — A terrible death has befallen a young man named Mosely, who was employed an a salesman, and placed in full charge of one of the waggons which are travelled by Becke and Co., of Bourke. The particulars, so far as could be learned are these. The deceased was travelling his six-horse American waggon on the Bogirah Creek, laden with an extensive and valuable collection of slops, &c., valued at several hundred pounds, when he became delirous, and raved wildly, talked of cutting the horses' throats, and shooting his mate who looked after the hones— which threat he actually at-tempted in the latter case, but fortunately the cap missed fire, and the man escaped. But before he could obtain assistance the unfortunate maniac had set fire to the wag-gon, and the loading was speedily reduced to a mass of

ashes. He then made an ineffectual attempt to find the horses, with a view of destroying them, but being frustra-ted it is probable he became still more desperate, for, goaded by his maddened and unrestrained faculties, he acted upon the terrible impulse of a maniac, and dis-charged the gun into his own body with which he had in-tended to destroy his horses. The rest is soon told. His mate returned with assistance only to find the charred remains of Mosely amongst the fire he had made of the waggon and loading. All that remains of the latter is a part of the pole and ironwork. The body has been placed under the ground, with a layer of about a foot of earth upon it. A messenger was then immediately despatched to Bourke, when the body will be exhumed, and a magis-terial inquiry held.