22 Proceedinys. 



was provided by a numher of views from the Clyde district in Central Otago, a 

 view of the land being shown in its original state, with another view of it after 

 its depletion. One fact was stated to show the effect on the pastoral industry. In 

 1890 there were 441,000 sheep in Vincent County; in 1910 there were only 

 277,000. If it were not for the wing thistle, erroneously called the "star" thistle, 

 the land would lose still more of its carrying-capacity. Views weie also shown of 

 land in Canterbury which had suffered through the destruction of the tussock by 

 injudicious burning. The lecturer said that the restocking of the land with grasses 

 piesented a very difhcult problem, and it must necessarily be a slow process. He 

 showed a number of views of American areas which exhibited the same depletion, 

 and remarked that experiments for their restoration to usefulness had so far 

 resulted in failure. The views of Australian and American pasture were interesting 

 as affording comparisons with New Zealand, as well as by introducing to the 

 audience the grasses most affected in those countries. 



Mr. D. D. Macfarlane thanked the Institute for sending an invitation to the 

 committee of the Agricultural and Pastoral Association to be present. They had 

 listened to the address with very much interest. It was a fact that the carrying- 

 capacity of runs in Canterbury was decreasing every year. That was partly due 

 to continual burning, partly to overstocking, partly to rabbits and other causes. 

 The chief cause, probably, was the insecurity of tenure. If a tenant had a secure 

 tenure, and his improvements were conserved to hitu, he would see that his country 

 was not destroyed. Every one knew it was necessary to do a certain amount of 

 burning, but it should be done in the spring-time, and in sections which precluded 

 the possibility of the fire sprciuling over the whole country. 



Mr. J. Stevenson also referred with appreciation to the lecture, and remarked 

 that the views of the depletion of land in America and Central Otago should be a 

 warning to pastoralists to do everything in their power to preserve their pasture 

 lands. 



There was some discussion as to whether the original pastoralists, before putting 

 sheep among the tussocks, had had a "burn," but no definite information appeared 

 to be available. 



Mr M. Murphy, who briefly referred to the evils of overstocking and 

 injudicious burning, proposed a vote of thanks to the lecturer, and this was carried 

 unanimously. 



This account is taken from the Chi-istchurch I'ress, to which thanks 

 are due. 



