53 



conclusion was that there was only a certain portion of the vine- 

 jards that were actually destroyed by the disease, and the remain- 

 ing portion had a crop on them. Would it have been right to put 

 men in to destroy the whole lot ? Was it not paying much more 

 attention to the interests of the vine-growers to allow them to take 

 the crop off before complete eradication ? They had not delayed 

 the eradication of the diseased vines, but of those that were 

 bearing a crop, and about which they were not certain whether 

 they were diseased or not. The time had now arrived when 

 it would be much cheaper to eradicate the vines than when 

 the ground was in a solid state from drought. The GovernT- 

 ment were taking steps to eradicate all vineyards where the 

 phylloxera was found, in the interests of the colony as a whole as 

 well as of the vignerons themselves. Mr. Vahland's motion as to 

 compensation contained the very elements of what the Department 

 intended to do — to deal justly with the people who have suffered ; 

 but the question was, " what was justice ?" The Act provided 

 now that the owners of all vineyards eradicated would receive 

 compensation to the extent of the value of one year's crop. If 

 they took Mr. Vahland's own words " that a vineyard where the 

 disease had been discovered was doomed," to what extent beyond 

 the one year's crop would a man suffer in having his vineyard 

 eradicated — he would get this year's crop and be paid for the next. 

 That, to his (the Chairman's) mind, was dealing justly in accord- 

 ance with the present law. He did not think the analogy as to 

 diseased cattle held good ; there was an analogy in regard to 

 sanitary matters, in that case the authorities could step in and 

 order a house to be pulled down, and a man had either to suffer 

 pecuniary loss or to spend money in making the required improve- 

 ments. Mr. West made use of a common expression about the 

 people being sufficiently self-reliant to refuse to bo spoon-fed. He 

 disagreed with Mr. West entirely^-presuming that it applied to 

 .bonuses in the past ; it was because those bonuses had not been 

 paid before, and because the encouragement necessary to increase 

 their products was not given earlier, that they found their industries 

 in their present depressed state. It was not the combined effort 

 of the dairymen of this colony that increased their industry, but 

 the encouragement and help that the State gave — he regretted 

 it had not been given to other industries, including the vine- 

 ;growers. Had it been done, vine-growing might now be in as 

 Sourishing a condition as the dairying industry. It had been said 

 that bonuses were in the interest of one particular class, and why 

 (Should others contribute— there never was a shallower remark 

 ^paade ; they could not do anything that would legitimately 

 ^encourage production without its being a gain to every man in the 

 •State. On production in this colony depended the whole of our 

 .financial, our social, and our commercial systems, and their 



