66 On Colonial Wines. 
treatises which have issued from our local press ; my object 
on this occasion has been yather to give a summary of my 
own observations on those colonial wines which have formed 
the subjects of my private studies and experiments. 
Many inducements of a public character have been held 
out to foster this industry ; and perhaps the most valuable 
efforts have been made by the Board of Agriculture towards 
fostering this spirit, by publishing reports on colonial wines, 
and awarding premiums for the best samples. 7 
It is matter of regret that the prizes offered for wines 
during the last two years have been inadequate to draw the 
best of our vignerons into competition at the Agricultural 
Exhibitions, and that the recommendations offered by the 
judges, regarding the storing of samples of the best kinds, 
have not been carried out fully ; the objects of the recom- 
mendation being, that in future years judges may be able to 
state what at present no man can—viz., how each sample has 
stood the test of keeping, and still more, how specimens have 
stood a voyage to Kurope and back; for it is only from data 
of this kind that the merchant will be justified in trying 
foreign markets, and the producer and wine-keeper here 
learn how to correct faults in fermentation, and in fact errors 
which will affect the character of our wines. i 
It must ever be borne in mind, that we are still in the 
very infancy of wine producing, but it is for the most part a 
healthy infancy and full of promise. The rapidity with which 
our Adelaide neighbours have attained almost perfection, and 
the steps they have taken to ensure it, are full of instruc- © 
tion, easily attainable by our own cultivators ; and though we 
may not all at once attain to their peculiar excellence, yet 
we inay attain to others in our own produce, not less rare | 
and valuable; though as different in kind as are the finest pro- 
ductions of France from those of Germany, Spain, Italy, or 
Hungary. 
As regards the magnitude of our wine imports, I am 
enabled to lay the account before you for 1866. 
The following tabulated statement has been courteously 
supplied by the Honourable the Commissioner of Trade and 
Customs, and will, it is believed, be replete with interest for 
the intelligent, as showing the quantity of wine entered at 
the Custom House during 1866, the various countries from 
which it was shipped, and the total amount Victoria spent 
that year on wines. 
It would appear that only about £3,000 worth of wine 
was imported from South Australia and New South Wales, 
