president's addkess. 25 



known as Bureaus, each under the direct control of the 

 chief of division, responsible to the Secretary of Agriculture, 

 the Hon. James Wilson, who ranks as a Cabinet Minister. 



As in Washington, a Federal Bureau here would include 

 an Economic Entomologist to cope with the many insect-pests 

 that are common to all the States of the Commonwealth. This 

 is one of the questions that will have to be considered by the 

 Federal Government, as it has already formed an Agricul- 

 tural Branch in the Northern Territory, with an Experiment 

 Farm. 



Speaking in 1910, Mr. W. Swinbourne (Minister of 

 Agriculture for Victoria) said : "At present each of the States 

 maintained a staff of experts to conduct research work. These 

 experts included entomologists, vegetable pathologists, and 

 veterinary officers, who were enquiring into many problems 

 of vital interest to the producers of Australia. Were the 

 Commonwealth to assume control of this work, much good 

 could be done. Instead of half a dozen States working for 

 the same ends along different lines, with expensive staffs, the 

 Commonwealth would be able to co-ordinate the work, and 

 secure for its advancement the very best scientific and pi-acti- 

 cal experts that the world offered. With a staff consisting of 

 some of the greatest living experts, the problems involving 

 the States in losses aggregating hundreds of thousands of 

 pounds annually, could be more effectively grappled with." 



Among the questions affecting the whole of Australia, may 

 be noted the following : — First -the locust or grasshopper 

 plague. These insects usually breed and multiply in the dry 

 interior, and, under favourable climatic conditions, increase 

 so rapidly, that they appear at irregular intervals in count- 

 less millions. They eat everything before them, and usually 

 travel towards the coastal districts as they reach maturity. 

 No one, unless he has passed through a real locust-invasion, 

 can realise what it means. Until recent years, most of the 

 damage they have done has been confined to grass-lands and 

 the gardens of homesteads, and though individual loss is 



