16 



Mr. GORMAN (Bcrrigan) said there was one phase of the question that had not cropped up yet. 

 Personally, he agreed with the Honorable Rupert Carington, as in his district there was very little Crown 

 land in charge of the Lands Department. It was all alienated; but, as the Minister had pointed out to 

 them yesterday, there were other parts of New South Wales in which he had very large interests, and 

 he thought that if they were to say that the Minister should have no say at all in legislating for rabbits 

 throughout New South Wales, they would do the Conference a lot of harm. They knew Mr. Carruthers 

 carried a great deal of weight, and they would be courting opposition from him straight away. It would 

 be against the interests of the Conference to take away the representation of the Minister. 



The Honorable EUIMSRT CARINGTON (Jerilderie) said he was going to move an amendment to give 

 the Minister representation in another way later on. 



Mr. A. BROWN (Narrabri) would like to ask if Mr. T. Brown was there as a representative of the 

 Stock Board, or whether he was there by invitation of the Minister; and the reason he asked was because 

 he appeared to hold a brief for the Minister in regard to payments and patronage; and it appeared to him 

 that Mr. T. Brown wanted to make ministerial patronage so strong, so as to give Members of Parliament, 

 or others who might be interested, the power to get their friends or others appointed to act on the 

 different Boards throughout the country, whether they were agreeable to the stock-owners or not. It 

 seemed to him that his argument was from start to finish against the Stock Boards having anything to 

 say in the expenditure of their own money, and all for ministerial patronage from end to end. 



Mr. T. BROWN', M.L.A., for the information of the gentleman who had just sat down, said he was 

 at the Conference on the same footing as that gentleman himself. He had been elected by a body of 

 selectors known as the '' Budgerabong Selectors' Association." He did not come there for the Minister, 

 nor did he hold a brief for that gentleman. 



Mr. Koss (Hume) said, if. he understood Mr. Brown aright, that gentleman would like to leave 

 the payments in the hands of the Minister. He did not see why they should make a new Eabbit Board 

 right alongside the Pasture Board. He thought the Boards as at present situated were a great success. 

 He thought the Stock Boards of the country were more representative than any other body, and the 

 Eabbit Boards must be elected by someone, and he thought it should be by the people who were to 

 provide the money. That could not be better. In the district which he represented every member of 

 the Board was a small holder; the large holders could not return a man at all. lie did not think the 

 large holders had too much power. He thought it was possible that fourteen years ago the owners did 

 not use their power properly, and the events of the past had shown them the danger they were in. He 

 thought it was simply a waste of money to erect any Board alongide the Pastures and Stock Board to 

 control another set ot' officers with another set of machinery. So long as things were controlled from 

 head-quarters there would be utter failure. Let it be in the hands of the Pastures and Stock Boards 

 until they saw something better. 



Mr. NIXON (Gunbar) was opposed to this amendment, because there were a number of selectors 

 put on the land under Mr. Carruthers' new Bill who would have no votes. 



A MEMBER : Why ? It would be on a land basis. 



Mr. DILL (Hay) rose as one who had had a good deal to do with the working of Pastures and 

 Stock Boards for sixteen years. He had been Chairman for about five years out of those sixteen years, 

 including the last two yc.irs, and he thought the Pastures and Stock Board in Hay, which he represented, 

 had done their duty during that time, and he failed to see any reason why, for the present, the Pastures 

 and Stock Boards might not be trusted with this Bill if passed. With regard to the rabbit question, he 

 thought he had had as much experience in dealing with the rabbits as most men during the past fourteen 

 years, and he thought it was very necessary, indeed, that the administration should be compulsorv. Ho 

 could speak feelingly with regard to that, because he had had neighbours who would not kill, while be was 

 doing his level best to keep the rabbits under, and he certainly would support strongly the placing of this 

 under the Pastures and Stock Boards, for the present, at any rate. 



Mr. HATES said, that if they looked at the Act they would find that the Minister, in the first 

 instance, gave the control, under the Bill, of the Rabbit districts to the Pastures and Stock Boards, and 

 he made this provision wisely, he thought, though if a majority of the land-owners in the district desired 

 to have an election on a land basis, they should do so. This Bill was very elastic, and these provisions 

 were very necessary. Some people said it was far better that the Stock Board alone should regulate it, 

 and others said that as every land-owner has to contribute he should have a voice in the matter. There 

 was a good deal of reason why they should let this clause stand as it was, the Pastures and Stock Boards 

 would have full control over it, and then the people in each district had the right either to remain as they 

 were or to petition to have things altered, 



Mr. Boss (Hume) : Why could not one Board do the lot ? 



Mr. HATCS said if they got a district which was very largely settled by farmers, would not they 

 naturally want to have a voice in the matter themselves ? This Act must be broad and liberal. It was 

 wanted to apply to the whole Colony where conditions varied ; and therefore, in districts where the owners 

 predominated it would be under the Pastures and Stock Boards, and where the farmers predominated they 

 naturally would want to have a voice. 



Mr. GUMMING (Hillstou) said that in speaking on this motion he would support the Pastures and 

 Stock Boards, but he would endorse all that Mr. Hayes had said. There was another point : one man 

 might have an equally good run with another, but the man who managed well might have 50,000 sheep, 

 while the man who was careless might only had 20,000 sheep, and he would pay the same, and would do 

 so on the land basis. 



Mr. TREFLE thought the amendment was rather too sweeping. There was no doubt that what 

 Mr. Hayes had said had a great deal of force in it, and he thought that some of the gentlemen who spoke 

 very strongly in favour of the Pastures and Stock Boards having control under this Bill, had not had 

 much experience where it was all settled by small owners. He had had to put before the Minister a 

 petition from 160 small owners, to have the district brought under the present Eabbit Act. Among these 

 i GO were many men who had only two or three plough-horses men on blocks whom the rabbits were eating 

 out. They wanted the rabbits checked. If the tax-payers, under the new Eabbit Act, would each have a 

 vote for the Stock Board, then he would be quite willing to support the resolution ; but he did not think 

 that, as at present constituted, the franchise of the Stock Board would cover all the men who would have 

 to pay the taxes for the suppression of the rabbits. There was every probability that wherever the 



Pastures 



