PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 139 
A letter from Mr. J. Sibbald, General Manager of the 
Wheat Marketing Scheme of the Government of Western 
Australia, stated that the mice had appeared there only in 
normal quantities, and no special measures had been taken 
in that State to combat them. 
Mr. L. A. Evans, Acting Director of Agriculture in Tas- 
mania, stated that up to September 24th no plague of mice 
had occurred. ' 
Through Dr. Cameron, Director of Agriculture, Victoria, 
a reply was received from Mr. A. Judd, Secretary to the 
Victorian Wheat Commission, Melbourne; and a communi- 
cation was also forwarded by Mr. W. L. Sammers, Secre- 
tary to the Minister for Agriculture, South Australia. 
These, together with Mr. Harris’s observations in New 
South Wales, are summarised in the following manner :— 
(1) When and where was the Increase first noted? 
New South Wales: Evidence that mice were more preva- 
lent than usual first appeared in December, 1916, but their 
numbers did not increase to an alarming extent until early 
in April, 1917, when these could be said to constitute a 
‘*Mouse Plague.’’ 
Victoria: The increase of the mice was first noted in 
February and March in the North-western districts of that 
State. 
South Australia: In four or five towns mice were ‘‘bad’’ 
in stacks during the previous season, e.g., at Port Brough- 
ton, Mundoora and Kybunga. It was in this district that 
the mice plague was first reported in March, 1917. 
(2) Districts affected by the Plague. 
New South Wales: The area of the State chiefly affected 
by the mice plague was the Southern district, the mice 
working up into New South Wales from the Victorian bor- 
der. The West (with the exception of the district from 
