77 



Mr. T. BROWN, M.L. A. (Budgerabong), suggested that the Conference should adjourn until 

 Wednesday morning, and that the Chairman should interview Mr. Alexander Oliver, and report to the 

 Conference, on Wednesday morning, how long it would take Mr. Oliver to draft the Bill. They could 

 then come to a decision whether a committee was required or not. 



The Chairman then read the following letter from the Secretary of the Board for Exports : 



Department of Mines and Agriculture, Board for Exports, 40, Young-street, Sydney, 15 March, 1897. 

 Sir, 



By direction of the Honorable the Minister for Mines and Agriculture, I have the honor to request the 

 indulgence of your Conference, before closing the session of to-day, in order to lay before the gentlemen present the action 

 being taken by my Board in connection with the export of hares and rabbits. 



I shall be in attendance for that purpose. I have, &c., 



JAS. STEPHENSON, 

 A. Lakeman, Esq., Chairman, Babbit Conference. Secretary. 



Mr. T. BROWS, M.L. A. (Budgerabong), said that this was an important matter, and the Secretary of 

 the Board for Exports would be in a position to give them valuable information. He would move that the 

 Conference allow Mr. Stephenson the opportunity of addressing them at the conclusion of the business 

 on Wednesday. 



Mr. Brown's motion was carried unanimously. 



The Chairman then adjourned the Conference until Wednesday morning at 10 a.m. 



SEVENTH DAY 17TH MARCH, 1897. 



Mr. Allen Lakeman took the Chair at 10 a.m. 



The minutes of previous meeting were read and confirmed. 



The CHAIRMAN then reported that he had seen Mr. Oliver ; but he could not have the Bill ready 

 until, at the earliest, the beginning of the following week. It would be a rather difficult matter to draft. 



Mr. BAYLIS (Narrandera) said, that as many of the delegates were anxious to get home, and it 

 was no use their remaining for another week, he would propose that a sub-committee be formed of five 

 gentlemen to confer with Mr. Oliver, and receive the Bill from him, and present it to the Minister, and to 

 explain the intentions of the Conference both to Mr. Oliver and to the Minister if necessary. He would 

 nominate the Chairman, Mr. Allen Lakeman, together with Mr. T. Brown, M.L. A., the Honorable Rupert 

 Carington, Mr. Alison, and Mr. Bacon as the sub-committee of five to deal with this matter. 



Mr. .1. M. ATKINSON seconded Mr. Baylis' motion. 



Mr. BATLIS (Xarrandera) said that three should form a quorum. 



Mr. ,F. M. ATKIVSOX thought that one should form a quorum, as it was only a matter of explaining 

 the intentions of the Conference. 



Mr. BAYMS' (Narrandera) motion was then put, and carried unanimously. 



The CHAIRMAN then reported that he had received a note from Mr. Alexander Oliver, from which 

 he would like to read them an extract, and which ran as follows: "I hardly understand what is the 

 intention of the Conference in regard to the constitution of the ' Rabbit Boards.' Referring to clause 

 5 on the printed amendments ' That for the purposes of tho Bill, &c.,' does this mean that the constitu- 

 tion of the Pastures and Stock Protection Boards is to be altered only for Babbit Administration purposes 

 or generally and for all purposes ? If the latter, it will be an amendment of the Stock and Pastures Acts, 

 and not of Mr. Carruthers' Bill only. It will, on the other hand, be rather awkward to have the Boards 

 constituted one way for stock purposes, another for rabbits, especially at meetings when business of both 

 kinds is to be transacted." 



Mr. ALISON (Canonbar) said he thought the idea, when the clause dealing with that matter was 

 passed, was this, that the Sheep Diseases Directors met and transacted their business, and then the Stock 

 Board met and transacted their business, and then it was the intention he thought, that the Rabbit 

 Directors would meet and transact their business, but they would sit as separate Boards. 



Mr. ATKINSON took it that they had to alter the constitution of the Diseases in Sheep Act, as they 

 put in nine men instead of eight. He thought the Government representative would take the Chair on 

 tho Rabbit Board and form the ninth man. 



The Hon. RUPERT CARINGTON (Jerilderie) said that sitting as they did together there had never 

 been any friction between the Sheep Directors and the Stock and Pastures Directors. They did the 

 sheep business first and the other afterwards. Why should there not be a third section ? He did not 

 see that the Government nominee would have any more right to sit as a Sheep Director than the Stock 

 and Pastures Directors had. 



Mr. T. BHOWN, M.L. A. (Budgerabong), said that this was quite a revelation to him, and to use a 

 hacknied expression, he did not know where he was on this question. The Minister's Bill provided for 

 a separate Rabbit Board, and it went on to provide that the present Stock and Pastures Board might for 

 the purpose of this Bill be constituted a separate Rabbit Board, that Municipalities might be constituted 

 separate Rabbit Boards according to their areas, and the people affected might come in and require a 

 Babbit Board to be constituted on an elective basis, independently of the Slock Board or of the Munici- 

 palities. These were the provisions of the Minister, and that was the constitution that he was supporting. 

 Now every speech that had been made on the occasion of the passing of that clause was in the direction 

 of giving the Stock and Pastures Board the power to administer this Rabbit Act. It was struck out that 

 the Minister should have no power of constituting, on the wish of the people affected, any other Board 

 but the Pastures and Stock Board to do this work. Now he understood from that position that the wish 

 of this Conference was that the administration of this Act, from the top to the bottom, with the exception 

 of the Municipal Councils, should be part and parcel of the work given to the Stock and Pastures Board, 

 and looking upon it from that standpoint, and knowing the large interests that would be affected by it, 

 and seeing that it was not practically with the province of the Stock and Pastures Board as at present 



constituted, 



