The control of scab and the prevention of its spread was taken extremely seriously in the late 19th century. In this excerpt from an 1866 newspaper, a landowner has been prosecuted for breaching the Scab Ordinance 1849 by allowing ‘scabby’ sheep to stray onto a neighbour’s property. Later, in 1878, the Sheep Act was passed, making it compulsory for every farmer to plunge dip their sheep. By 1894 New Zealand was declared free of scab.
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National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference: Nelson Examiner and New Zealand Chronicle, 31 July 1886, p. 3
Permission of the National Library of New Zealand, Te Puna Mātauranga o Aotearoa, must be obtained before any re-use of this image.