19 



Before November last the supply of wattle bark was said to 

 be practically exhausted, but the fact of nearly 12,000 tons having 

 since been shipped over and above the amount required for the 

 important Victorian tanning industry proves conclusively that, with 

 the exercise of a moderate amount of care and supervision, the 

 supply may be increased to almost any extent. Up to the present 

 time the supply has been derived from the spontaneous growth of 

 wattles on lands for the most part in the possession of the Crown. 

 From the fact that the supply has hitherto been maintained without 

 the aid of cultivation, the increased yield likely to follow the adop- 

 tion of a general system of wattle growing would ensure the 

 establishment of a great export trade on a permanent basis, besides 

 assuring the future of our own leather trade. A new channel can 

 be opened up for the lucrative investment of capital, while by the 

 scattering of seeds over the immense tracts of barren unprofitable 

 land in the occupation of the Crown the entire aspect of the country 

 will undergo a change. All along the lines of railway and by the 

 roadsides in the country districts avenues and clumps of wattles 

 can be grown, beautifying the landscape, while the right of strip- 

 ping could be let annually (after the first five years) at a price 

 which would go towards paying the cost of maintaining the roadway 

 in good condition. No other country in the world possesses a 

 more valuable tanning bark; and when this fact is better under- 

 stood the wattles will be looked upon as one of the many sources 

 of wealth possessed by this colony. 



Before passing on to the recommendations which are the outcome 

 of the investigations of the Board, it is incumbent on the members 

 to draw attention to several matters that were prominently brought 

 under their notice. Although not directly associated with the 

 subject under consideration, the Board are nevertheless of opinion 

 that the matters in question call for early attention at the hands of 

 the Government. 



In the evidence given before the Board by tanners throughout 

 the colony it was uniformly asserted that an immense loss is 

 annually inflicted, not only on tanners but also on stockowners, 

 besides being a national loss, by the indiscriminate system of 

 branding cattle on the most valuable parts of the hide, thereby 

 leading to a depreciation in the value of the leather. Still greater 

 loss is experienced in consequence of the careless, reckless, and 

 often wanton manner in which Victorian slaughtermen flay the 

 beasts killed in the abattoirs. The hides are punctured and slashed 

 in every direction, one of the leading tanners in the colony giving 

 the following evidence on this point : 



" There is an immense annual loss consequent upon the negligent manner in 

 which skins are branded and subsequently flayed. I reckon that all round there 

 is a loss of at least 2s. 6d. per hide by reasori of bad flaying, not taking into con- 



