24 



The duties of the committee, as out- 

 lined, were to furnish periodical reports 

 to the executive comniittee and to the 

 "Australasian Bee Journal," of the pro- 

 gress of heelceeping in their several dis- 

 tricts. 



The sub-committee appointed to re- 

 arrange the rules for submission to a 

 general meeting met on the 9th Maroh, 

 and they were adopted at the general 

 meeting held on the 16th of the same 

 month. The meeting also adopted the 

 suggestion of the sub-committee that a 

 Foul Brood Bill be drafted by the Asso- 

 ciation for presentation at the next ses- 

 sion of Parliament, and that the presi- 

 dent (Mr. F. Lawry, M.H.R.) be re- 

 quested to take charge of it, the execu- 

 tive in the meantime to secure the signa- 

 tures to a petition for the passing of a 

 Bill, of all beekeepers in favour of such 

 a course. A sub-committee, consisting 

 of the president, secretary, and the Rev. 

 Father Madan, was appointed to draft 

 an Act to be submitted to the executive 

 committee at its next meeting. 



The meeting of the sub-committee ap- 

 pointed to draft the bill met at the 

 secretary's house on March 20, 1888, and 

 after a long and careful consideration 

 of the several clauses a bill was framed 

 ready to submit to the executive com- 

 mittee, and after some slight amendment 

 it was adopted, a vote of thanks being 

 accorded to the framers of the bill. 



FOUL-BROOD. 



Before continuing the matter of the 

 Foul-Brood Bill, it will be as well to give 

 a little of the known history of foul- 

 brood in New Zealand prior to 1887. 



When I threw aside my former occu- 

 pation to take up bee-culture for a live- 

 lihood the thought of failure never for a 

 moment entered my head. I could see 

 nothing but success in front of me. Later 

 on, however, when I read of the devasta- 

 tion among the bees in England and 

 America caused by foul -brood, and the 

 uncertainty of the suggested remedies 

 effecting a cure, the dread of such a dis- 

 ease attacking my bees and upsetting 

 all my plans became a kind of nightmare 

 to me. The one thought that dominated 

 all others was to be constantly on the 

 watch for symptoms of disease, and to 

 destroy all combe showing one or more 

 almormal-looking cells. While at the 

 Thames I destroyed quite a number, and 



the same at Matamata, which, with later 

 experience of undoubted diseased combs, 

 1 was certain I had in my extreme cau- 

 tion destroyed perfectly healthy combs. 



Quite early in the '80's I learned 

 from private correspondence that there 

 was something wrong with the bees in 

 the Hawke's Bay and Taranaki districts, 

 which subsequently proved to be foul- 

 brood. The late Mr. E. Harding, of 

 Mount Vernon, Hawke's Bay, who was a 

 great bee enthusiast, wrote me for pub- 

 lication on August 13, 1883: "That 

 scourge of the apiary (foul-brood) ia 

 rampant in all parts of this provincial 

 district, several apiaries having been 

 depopulated through it," etc. Mr. Hard- 

 ing twice lost all his bees through the 

 disease, notwithstanding that he had 

 tried all the then recommended reme- 

 dies. 



In 1883 Mr. L. J. Bagnall wrote me 

 from Thames that foul-brood had ap- 

 peared in his apiary, and he attributed 

 the outbreak to a 'neighbouring apiary, 

 which was comprised of bees bought 

 from Maoris in box hives, and as he 

 thought it was likely to be a consider- 

 able distance up the Thames Valley, 

 among other Maori box-hives, warned 

 me to be on the look-out at Matamata. 

 During the following four years the dis- 

 ease had spread to almost all parts of 

 New Zealand, and it was making such 

 havoc among the bees that many of our 

 beekeepers were becoming disheartened. 



As there were known to be two distinct 

 forms of the disease, which the United 

 States Department of Agriculture was 

 investigating at the time, I sent six 

 samples of diseased combs (three from 

 Southland and three from Auckland) in 

 October, 1907, to Dr. E. F. Phillips, in 

 charge of Apiculture, Washington, for 

 examination. As the result of his in- 

 vestigation he declared each sample to be 

 affected by the form of disease known as 

 Bacillus larvae. 



THE DRUG CURE (?). 



In England, Canada, the United States 

 of America, Australia, and European 

 Continental countries foul-brood was 

 playing havoc among the bees in the 

 eighties, and threatened to be as dis- 

 astrous in this respect as the disease 

 known as "pebrine" had previously been 

 among the silkworms. In New Zealand 



