PRESIDENTIAL ADDRESS. 147 
tops cut out. At first these were fairly successful in trap- 
ping the rodents, for seeing the opening, they attempted to 
pass through, and fell into the tins, which contained suffi- 
cient water to drown them. 
‘‘The Commission had appointed Mr. England (of Messrs. 
Cuming, Smith & Co.) to experiment at Minyip with bi- 
sulphide of carbon fumigations, but he found it impossible 
to do anything in that respect. When at that centre, his 
attention was drawn to the fence and trapping device. He 
subsequently erected what proved to be a most effective 
device for trapping, as follows:—A double fence of galvan- 
ised iron was erected right round the stack, with a space of 
about 3 feet between the two fences. These were sunk in 
the ground to a depth-of six inches in a trench, which was 
closely rammed to prevent burrowing. Pegs were driven 
firmly into the ground, and the iron nailed to these at 
every corrugation, to ensure a tight joint, as it was found 
that if the edge of the sheet projected they ran up the lap. 
Thus the fence was absolutely plain on the inside, and once 
the mice were between the fences, there were no means 
of egress. To encourage them to climb over from both the 
outside and the stack side, strips of bag were attached to 
the pegs and allowed to reach the ground on the outside, 
but did not hang lower than 14 inches from the ground 
on the inside of the race. After watching thousands of 
mice trying to jump out of the race, it was found that at 
13 inches an occasional one could get a grip on the bag, 
but at 14 inches not one was observed to escape. 
‘‘At a later date at some stations the bags were removed, 
and it was found that the mice ran up the bare pegs better, 
and hopped over into the race themselves. Bait, in the 
shape of oil of aniseed and treacle, was laid in the race as 
an attraction, but as 268,000 were caught in one night at 
Lascelles without bags on the race or without bait, it was 
