MEETINGS OF SOCIETIES. 273 



short intervals, some monthly) :' and that was that they were specially 

 adapted to the circumstances of the country they appeared in. Now in 

 New Zealand we have nothing, or almost nothing of the kind. The 

 Government issued lately a little pamphlet about the Phylloxera and 

 other vine-diseases : it is good enough as far as it goes, but it is nothing 

 more than a compilation from facts known in other countries and does 

 not specially apply to New Zealand. 



Two things ought to be very earnestly borne in mind in considering 

 this question. One (noticed in an earlier part of the speech) is that the 

 department required must deal not only with farmers but with all sorts 

 of persons interested iu all sorts of cultivation : it results from this that 

 a mere " practical farmer " would be entirely insufficient to direct it. 

 Independently of the general disinclination of the " practical farmer" 

 to look an inch beyond his nose, a much wider and deeper knowledge is 

 necessary than he is at all likely to possess. Secondly the Department 

 must deal with every kind of friend or foe to cultivation : animal foes 

 such as insects are not always more destructive than vegetable foes such 

 as the various fungi or noxious weeds : consequently the Department, if 

 not the officer in charge of it, must be two-sided. In New South 

 Wales, and in Victoria, and in the United States, the various Boards 

 include separate staffs of entomologists and botanists. It is of course 

 difficult for any Minister in New Zealand to pluck up courage enough 

 to tell Parliament that two salaried officers are wanted. But he might 

 at least start with one, and the speaker in a letter sent lately to the 

 Minister of Lands strongly urged that in England an officer could be 

 obtained competent to at least make a good start with a Department, 

 and sufficiently expert in economic entomology and in economic botany. 

 The suggestion made in the letter was that, say, the Royal Agricultural 

 College at Cirencester should be applied to, or Professor Wallace of 

 the Edinburgh University, to recommend such an officer. 



Complaints are sometimes made that the subjects treated of at 

 meetings of this Society are not sufficiently practical. Well, here at 

 least is a practical question demanding a practical solution. Whether 

 the solution would be given by the Government and the parliament 

 might nor might not be likely : at all events it was good to put on 

 record the opinions just expressed, and the speaker trusted, that if his 

 views were considered to be correct, the Society would endorse them by 

 passing the resolution which he proposed to move presently. 



The Hon. Mr. P. Pharazyn said that he quite agreed with Mr. 

 Maskell that it was of the greatest importance that such an expert 

 department should be established, and he would be glad to do all in his 

 power to support such a movement. It had been found that a depart- 

 ment of this kind had worked well in other countries and had proved 

 of the greatest benefit to those engaged in agricultural pursuits. 



Mr. Geo. Beetham also agreed with the author's views on this 

 subject; he believed that if pi - operly represented, the Government ami 

 the parliament would favourably consider such a proposition. He com- 

 plimented Mr. Maskell on the valuable work he had done in this 

 branch of science, and said that the thanks of the Society were due to 

 him for having brought this important matter forward. 



