40 



around and within their boundary. He proposed an amendment : " A Rabbit Board shall have power to 

 tax all owners and occupiers of land within their district, for the purposes of erection of rabbit-proof 

 fences around half the boundary of their Rabbit District, the destruction of rabbits within said district, 

 and the proper maintenance of rabbit-proof fences." They should not give them power to go outside, 

 because they would be infringing on the rights of some other Stock Board. 



Mr. NlXOW (Gunbar) seconded Mr. Flanagan's amendment. 



Mr. FLANAGAN (Gunbar) said he wished to substitute the word " around " for the word " without," 

 and then to add his resolution. 



Mr. ALISON (Canoubar) wished to know whether Mr. Flanagan meant that no Rabbit Board was 

 to have the power to go outside its own district to contribute to or erect a fence ? 



Mr. FLANAGAN (Gunbar) : No power to go outside its own district. 



Mr. ALISON (Canonbar) said that would cause a great deal of trouble if they did not allow them 

 to go outside. There were fences which were now up, and which might be adopted, and he thought it 

 was a most judicious power to leave in the hands of the Board. Why should they be compelled to go to 

 the exact boundary when zig/agging in most extraordinary ways over ranges and across creeks. It 

 would be only reasonable to a Board to go a little outside its own district. 



Mr. BOLTON (Wagga Wagga) said, as a surveyor of many years experience, he thought it was very 

 desirable that it should be left to the Boards to adjust boundaries. They knew very well that a lot of 

 their main boundaries were the dividing ranges, and sometimes it would be almost impossible to carry a 

 fence along a dividing range, whereas a little lower down it could be done very well. 



Mr. LESLIE (Forbes) suggested that Mr. Flanagan should consent to move that the word 

 " without " be struck out of line 19, and let the rest of his motion stand and be dealt with later on. 



Mr. FLANAGAN (Gunbar) said he was quite willing. 



Mr. OAKDEN (Cobar) endorsed Mr. Alison's remarks, and was sure that anybody who was 

 acquainted with the western country would know he was right. 



Mr. BAYLIS (Narrandera) also endorsed Mr. Alison's remarks. 



Mr. CUDMOBE supported Mr. Alison. In the western district the boundary crossed high ranges 

 of sand-hills, and if the fences were placed on these sand-hills they would be covered with sand ; whereas 

 if the Board were allowed to deviate from the boundary they could be put it in a good position. 



Mr. LESLIE (Forbes) said that oil the barrier line of fence in which he was interested, it had been 

 very desirable that they should go a long way outside the district, so as to make the fence answer the 

 purposes for which it was erected, and they had done so. 



Mr. DILL (Hay) begged to support Mr. Alison, and in doing so he might mention that in 

 November last year they cleared half a mile of sand on his boundary. This year that had all filled up 

 again, so that the rabbits could walk over the fence, and it was his intention to apply to be allowed to 

 shift that fence. 



Mr. WILKES (Broken Hill), in support of Mr. Alison, pointed out that the Lands Department 

 could endorse what Mr. Dill had just said, for on the South Australian border a large amount of money 

 had been spent in clearing sand from the boundary fence, whereas if the fence had been deviated a good 

 boundary could have been made. 



Mr. FLANAGAN (Gunbar) said the gentleman did not seem to understand him. They had tried 

 yesterday to confine the Rabbit Districts to the present lines, and he fought against that, and they obtained 

 the right for the Minister to modify and remove and shift the Rabbit Districts. The Minister now had 

 the power to shift the fence and shift the boundary of a district ; and he still maintained that the rabbit 

 fence should be on the Rabbit District boundary. If there was a rocky place on the boundary, all they 

 would have to do was to tell the Minister and he would shift the boundary. 



The CHAIBMAN then put the question of striking out the word " without" from the clause, and it 

 was lost. 



Mr. LESLIE (Forbes) begged to move that subsections (n), (1), (e), (<!), and (e) be passed as printed. 



Mr. GIBSON (Hay) seconded. 



Mr. ALISON (Canonbar) opposed the motion. 



The CIIAIHMAN put the question, and it was carried. 



Mr. FEEEMAN proposed that the words " decision of the Local Laud Board that " in line 34, and 

 the words " a barrier fence " and " or will so protect," in line 35, and " of the fact," in line 36, be struck 

 out, and in substitution of them the following be put in, " the fact that the barrier fence." The clause, 

 as amended, would read, " A barrier fence shall be taken to mean a rabbit-proof fence which protects, 

 or will protect, from the incursions of rabbits the Rabbit District, or any part thereof, whether erected 

 without or within the boundaries of the Rabbit District ; and the fact that the barrier fence protects the 

 Rabbit District, or any part thereof, shall be conclusive as against the owner or occupier of any private 

 holding or lands within the Rabbit District." 



Mr. ALISON (Canonbar) seconded the alteration. 



Mr. GIBSON (Hay) said that it would materially help them to come to a decision if there was some 

 procedure by which it would not be necessary to prove that the fence was a barrier fence. They should 

 put in " Pastures and Stock Protection Board " instead of Local Land Board. He would move that as 

 an amendment. 



Mr. FHEEMAN said he was quite willing to accept that; it came to the same thing. He therefore 

 withdrew his motion. 



The CHAIRMAN put Mr. Gibson's motion, and it was carried. 



Mr. ALISON (Canonbar) said that there should be an appeal provided in that clause from the 

 Pastures and Stock Protection Board. 



The CHAIRMAN said he thought that could be done by one clause at the end, stating that any 

 decision of the Pastures and Stock Protection Board could be appealed from. 



Mr. LESLIE (Forbes) said that he proposed to strike out the word "private" from line 36 of 

 clause 20. 



Mr. DILL (Hay) seconded. 



The question was put, and carried unanimously. 



Clause 20, as amended, was put and carried. 



Clause 



