42 



If this course had been adopted the industry at the present 

 time would have been a source of wealth to the community and a 

 ready means of absorbing a large proportion of the surplus labour 

 of the colony ; and, as scarcely any other industry furnishes^ such 

 scope for labour in proportion to the capital invested in it, its 

 importance in this respect could hardly be over-estimated. But, 

 although on that occasion success was on the side of the local 

 optionist and prohibitionist, the utter uselessness and mischievous- 

 ness of whose tactics have been recently shown in the substitution 

 of a multitude of sly grog-shops for respectable licensed houses at 

 the Great Northern pnd Korumburra, and in the fact that the 

 •model prohibition settlement of Mildura promises ere long to 

 claim the record for pre-eminence in the consumption of " strong 

 waters ;" still, it is not yet too late to repair the evil, and if the 

 Government now decides to grant a bonus on the export of wine 

 and brandy it will be the means of enabling houses already in the 

 business, or which may hereafter be established, to reduce their 

 prices to the English buyers, and so secure an increased flow in 

 -the tide that is already, although not at a sufficiently fast rate, 

 setting in our favour. The Rutherglen Association, which Mr. 

 O'Grady and myself Iiave the honour to represent, recommends a 

 bonus of 3d. per gallon on wine and Is. per gallon on all pure 

 grape brandy exported, which, if we accept last year's exports as 

 a guide, would amount to £4,000 per annum. No doubt, as the 

 quantity increased under the influence of the bonuses, the amount 

 to be paid by the Government would also increase ; but it could, 

 and in my private opinion should, be reduced on a sliding scale 

 after the lapse of, say, three years. 



Once the industry is thoroughly established it will, like that 

 of dairying, need no further assistance, and should then be re- 

 quired to " gang its ain gait." 



The second feature of Mr. Martin's proposals, dealing with the 

 establishment of wineries and country distilleries for the purpose 

 of making pure grape brandy, which feature has been reproduced 

 in the regulations, should lead in time to the formation of com- 

 panies on a wholly or partly co-operative basis in all the leading 

 vine-growing districts in the colony. But in the carrying out of 

 these regulations the Government should (in certain directions 

 particularly) construe them in a reasonably elastic manner. In 

 some districts, especially new ones, a winery pure and simple may 

 be the chief and, perhaps, the only form of establishment desired 

 ■or necessary. In others, again, such as Rutherglen, where all the 

 vine-growers have wine-making plants of their own, a company 

 that will devote its chief and, perhaps, its sole attention to brandy 

 distillation may be the one thing needful. This being so, the 

 Government should not adopt too rigid an interpretation of the 

 regulations so far as regards the precise nature of the business to 



