20 Director's Report of the 



COMPLETE BULLETINS. 



Experiment Stations and their staffs 917 



Libraries, scientists, etc 270 



Foreign list 220 



Individuals 2> 265 



Miscellaneous 131 



Total 3 . 803 



INSPECTION WORK. 



This includes the same hnes of inspection that are enumerated in 

 previous reports : 



An outHne of what has been accompHshed in 1903 is as follows : 

 Inspection of fertilisers. — As is to some extent already known, the 

 bulletin giving the results of the analyses of fertilizers for 1903, 

 which usually appears not later than November, has been withheld 

 from publication, temporarily at least. The necessity of this action, 

 due to an insufficiency of statutory provisions, is certainly to be 

 regretted. As a result of contentions arising from complaints made 

 by me to the Attorney-General in accordance with Section 8 of Chap- 

 ter 955 of the Laws of 1896, the question of authority for the publica- 

 tion of the fertilizer bulletin was raised for the first time. After 

 considering this point, the Attorney-General of the State rendered 

 an opinion, the summary of which is as follows : " I am of the opin- 

 ion, therefore, that there is no statutory authority, either mandatory 

 or otherwise, for the publication of the results of the examinations 

 in question, and, therefore, if the Board of Control, or the Director 

 appointed by it, makes such publication it is subject to the same 

 rights and liabilities as an individual would be who made such pub- 

 lication." Litigation was threatened if the bulletin was published, 

 and it is clear that neither your Board nor myself should be asked to 

 assume personally the possible burden and vicissitudes of such litiga- 

 tion in behalf of the State, consequently the publication of the bul- 

 letin in question was withheld. It is evident that the Fertilizer Law 



