This Bill has the twofold object of ensuring, first, that the eggs used for hatching in poultry hatcheries are derived from flocks of suitable type and quality which are free from disease, and, second, that the production and distribution of chicks by hatcheries are carried out under conditions calculated to reduce to a minimum the danger of spreading disease.
In recent years the older system of hatching eggs on the farm, either by natural means or in incubators, is tending to be replaced by the distribution of day-old chicks from large-scale commercial hatcheries. Some 24 large commercial hatcheries are already in operation in different parts of the country and the establishment of a good many more in the near future may be expected. The sale of day-old chicks is also engaged in by a considerable number of poultry-keepers throughout the country who have facilities for artificial incubation.
Although the establishment of commercial hatcheries is a very desirable development, there is no doubt that the danger of outbreaks of disease on a large scale in poultry flocks will increase as such hatcheries grow in size and number. There is at present no control over the sources from which the eggs used in hatcheries are obtained or the conditions under which incubation is carried out and chicks are distributed. The same remark applies to other distributors of chicks, except where these are holders of poultry stations under my Department's poultry stations scheme. However, hatchery owners or poultry-keepers may exercise no discrimination in the selection of eggs for incubation, in which event the chicks distributed would be of very doubtful quality.
It was recommended by the Committee of Inquiry on Post-Emergency Agricultural Policy that distributors of hatching eggs and day-old chicks should be licensed under conditions to be determined by the Department of Agriculture and that holders of hatchery licences should be prohibited from incubating eggs other than those derived from flocks certified to be blood-tested and free from disease.
It is provided that, when the Bill is enacted, the Act shall come into operation at such times as may be fixed by Order of the Minister for Agriculture. The present intention is that the Act will be brought into operation in two stages, as follows:—
First Stage: This will be taken as soon as practicable after the enactment of the Bill and will include the operation of Parts I, II, IV and Sections 15 to 18 in Part III of the Act. During this stage, poultry hatcheries, other than those classes that may be excepted, will be prohibited from operating except under licence to be issued each year subject to such conditions as the Minister for Agriculture may think proper. Provision is made in the Bill for the Minister to make regulations exempting from the licensing requirements hatcheries of certain classes to be defined in such regulations, for example, hatcheries which do not engage in the production of chicks for sale or of which the hatching capacity is less than a specified minimum. Egg supplies for licensed hatcheries will have to be obtained from farms the owners of which have been granted "provisional permits" each year to supply eggs to licensed hatcheries. This "provisional permit" arrangement is intended to be temporary. It was devised to get over the initial difficulty presented by the fact that hatcheries are getting eggs from many farms that are not of the standard that will ultimately be required for "approved egg supply farms". Accordingly, so as not to disorganise the working of existing hatcheries, it will be necessary for some time to grant "provisional permits" to many of these farms and so give them the opportunity to qualify as "approved" farms. The provisional permit period will also afford an opportunity of determining the reliability and honesty of the owners of existing hatching-egg supply farms.
Second Stage: When this is reached, after the first stage has been developed for some years, licensed hatcheries will not be allowed to purchase eggs for hatching from any farm which has not been "approved" each year as an egg supply farm. At this point the system of granting provisional permits will cease.
The Bill provides that the Minister for Agriculture may authorise persons to be inspectors for the purposes of the Act. A number of inspectors will have to be appointed on the headquarters staff of the Department of Agriculture and it is also intended to ask the County Committees of Agriculture to consent to having their poultry instructors authorised to be inspectors for the purposes of the Act. I anticipate that the Committees of Agriculture will, in general, be prepared to agree to that course.