30 



Mr. Caughet.— How will aa elective Board be in a better 

 position than the present Board ? 



Mr. Irvine. — With power — we ask for it with power. 



Mr. Caughey. — What about means ? 



Mr. Irvine, — That question must come up in committee, and| 

 be submitted to the Minister. One way would be that the Board 

 should be endowed with State lands the same as the Council of 

 Education, or there might be a system of taxation. 



Mr. Moore seconded the resolution. 



The Chairman observed, that although _ he could not say 

 definitely until they had placed their propositions before him, still 

 so far as he could gather from the papers read, and from the reso- 

 lution, he did not think it certain that legislation must necessarily 

 follow to give effect to their views. So far as he understood their 

 views, it was quite possible to give effect to them by regulation. 

 If that were the case, he felt certain if they condensed their ideas 

 and put something practical before the Government, they would 

 be prepared to give effect to it by regulation, rather than by legis-i 

 lation. He might add that the Conference must not, nor were 

 they called upon to do so, disparage the work of the Board of 

 Viticulture. Its shortcomings, to his mind, were principally due 

 to the want of that power, scope, and opportunity that would be 

 given to the Board it was proposed to form, which would thus be 

 able to do much more than could be expected from the existing 

 Board.' Mr. Irvine had referred to several other matters in his, 

 paper, such, for instance, as the duty on casks. That was a 

 matter in which he (the Chairman) did not think it was necessary 

 to come to the Department of Agriculture for redress. The 

 Minister of Customs had full power, if he thought it judicious, to 

 allow a drawback upou casks.. His own opinion was that, as 

 wood for making casks was not very plentiful in this colony, the 

 Minister of Customs, on fair representation being made, would be 

 willing to concede that point. 



The motion was carried unanimously. 



Mr. Pounds moved — "That the Committee to consider the 

 resolution be a Committee of the whole, and that they should, 

 take it into consideration at the close of the day's proceedings." 



Mr, West seconded, the resolution, which was carried. 



Mr. F. DE Castella read the following paper: — 

 That the industry in which we are all directly interested has, 

 received a severe blow by the re-appearance of phylloxera, in the 

 colony is a fact that every one will admit. We must leave no 

 stone unturned to prevent the blow from becoming a crushing one 

 iin order that we may preserve the position we have already; 

 acquired among the wine- producing countries of the world.. 



