Controlling the Poultry Industry The report of the Poultry Technical
Committee, published on Tuesday, bases its recommendations on the fact that for some years past the poultry industry, the annual produce of which is valued at some £30 million, has been suffering severely from diseased and weakly stock. The Committee proposes that a Poultry (Stock Improvement) Commission, which would work in the closest co-operation with the various sections of the industry, shall be appointed to control, and thereby raise, the quality of breeding stock. Some of the principal suggestions are the compulsory registration of every distributor of stock, and registration would only be granted after inspection had shown the conditions of breeding to be satisfactory ; the institution of a voluntary grading scheme assisted by the Exchequer ; a schedule of conditions which would govern the sale of stock by auction and increased financial provision for research into poultry mortality, &c. The annual cost of applying these control proposals is esti- mated at ki ro,000, which is small enough in comparison with the £4 million which it is estimated is the cost the industry suffers annually through disease. The present position has occurred largely because the rapid increase in demand for stock has drawn into the industry numbers of small-scale and inexperienced farmers who produce under unhygienic and unscientific methods. Diseased and weakly stock has thus permeated the industry. Control along the lines indicated by the Commission would therefore scent to be necessary and desirable in the interests of both producers and consumers.
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