82 



A Member considered the tax on improvements was & 

 very hard thing. The vineyards were generally thought to be 

 worth about £4 a year per acre, and the tax was paid on that 

 amount. Agricultural land was worth about 5s. a year per acre, 

 and yet the agriculturist used the roads the same as the vigneron. 

 The tax on improvements should be altered, as any man willing 

 to make 1 acre of his land worth as much as 10 or 20 acres of 

 his neighbour's should not be rated for that. 



Mr. Buckley said that if vineyards were exempted then 

 orchards must also be exempted, and also buildings. Supposing 

 two gentlemen came to a district each with £1,000, and one bought 

 a large block and put it into wheat, and the other bought a few 

 acres and went in for vines, one man should have an equal right 

 with the other man to go into whichever industry he chose. 



Mr. P. DE Castella thought that the prosperity of Eutherglen 

 was due entirely to the vineyards. 



The Chairman put the motion, which was carried. 



The President of the Rutherglen Association moved — "That this 

 Conference urge upon the Government the necessity of giving an 

 export bonus of 3d. a gallon on wine and Is. a gallon on brandy, 

 under Government supervision, and also that the differential 

 excise duty on all brandy other than pure grape brandy be the 

 same as the imported article." 



Mr. Williams seconded the motion. 



Mr. Graham supported the motion. He thought the resolution 

 might come in with the last four resolutions passed by the Central 

 Wine-growers' Association. He thought that all those resolutions 

 might be taken together, and it would save time. It would be 

 necessary for a deputation to wait on the Minister, so he would 

 ask that the resolutions be included. 



The Chairman put the motion, which was carried. 



Mr. Graham moved — " That the freight charges per railway on 

 wine casks, either up or down the line, be the same as that now 

 charged on returned empties, and that the present minimum rate 

 on case wines, demijohns, bottles, kegs, and, empties be reduced." 

 It was absurd that a hogshead of 60 gallons should be carried for 

 Is. 6d. and a pipe for is. 



Mr. Moore seconded the motion. 



Mr. Williams said it was a matter that the Board of Viticul- 

 ture had fought over with the Minister of Eailways, and they had 

 been defeated over it. If the old casks were carried upatalower 

 rate why should not the new ones be carried at the same rate? 

 They must be sent down full, in time, and give freight to the 

 railways. 



_ Mr. P. DE Castella said that in 1880, at the time of the Ex- 

 hibition, he had tried to adopt a uniform size of cask for Australian 

 wine, not Victorian wine alone. It was unpleasant selling wine 



