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grave commercial disasters, which have brought disgrace upon 

 us as a people and have clothed us in sackcloth and ashes, may 

 in a measure have been averted. But if we are true to our man- 

 hood, we will now shake ofE the trammels of despair and arise 

 rejuvenated, like the phoenix, to redeem our future and work out 

 our destiny as a people. Let us take advantage of our magnifi- 

 cent and fertile territory, with its truly illimitable resources and 

 grand climatic advantages, and work with industry and faith in 

 ourselves and confidence in our future. Then will capital flow 

 to our shores, and spread like the golden sunshine over the land 

 to reward our efforts. I am aware, sir, that to some extent I 

 have digressed, but the great importance of the matters touched 

 upon are my excuse, for it is my desire, believing that the country 

 is arousing from its lethargy, to impress upon you, at this most 

 opportune moment, the necessity of conserving and protecting the 

 interests of the industry whose claims we have met to advocate 

 to-day. 



New Board of Viticulture. — The present Board of Viticulture 

 has, in a sense, been a convenient Board for different Govern- 

 ments, as, without responsibilty or proper organization in the past, 

 it has in a measure taken responsibility ofi" the shoulders of the 

 Government, and it was felt as long as wine-growers would 

 tolerate its existence as a nonentity, so long would it exist, but no 

 longer. In consequence of its faulty constitution the Board had 

 no power, and its suggestions were consistently ignored ; it had 

 no power to give force to its recommendations and decisions, and 

 thus prove the value of its existence ; and to remedy all this, we 

 ask you, sir, as the Minister of Agriculture, to draft a measure 

 for submission to Parliament on the lines this Conference may 

 agree to for the constitution of a new elective Board. The pro- 

 posal, which I submit for discussion, is that the colony should be 

 divided into eight districts — 1, the Eutherglen and Murray Valley; 

 2, the Goulburn ; 3, the Lilydale ; 4, Geelong ; 5, Bendigo 

 and Loddon ; 6, Mildura ; 7, Great Western and Wimmera ; 

 8, Dunolly and St. Arnaud. The Board, which should be an 

 honorary and elective Board, might be called the Goveri;ment 

 Viticultural and Phylloxera Diseases Board. The members to 

 represent each district should be elected on an acreage basis by 

 the wine-growers in each district, only bona fide wine-growers to 

 vote, and the local Wine-growers' Associations to become District 

 Boards of Viticulture. Each district with 500 and up to 2,000 

 acres under vine culture should return one member to the Viti- 

 cultural Board ; 2,000 and up to 5,000 acres, two members ; 5,000 

 up to 10,000 acres, three members ; and 10,000 acres and over, 

 four members. This would give a strong representative Board of 

 about fourteen members. The Board's experts and those of the 

 Agricultural Department should also be members but without 



