28 



The President — The paper of Mr. Eaton is open for discus- 

 sion. 



Mr. Gaskiix — I should like to ask Mr. Eaton whether in his 

 opinion it is practicable to conduct the whole of this drainage 

 program within the sp^ace of two years? It seems to be, well, 

 rather ambitious, in the light of what we have done, but it di- 

 rectly affects what I imagine is, to all, the vital point of the 

 whole discussion, whether or not it is practicable to rid the State 

 of this pest within a short time. My question is, Is that time 

 a reasonably short one, or is it a little too short? 



The President — Is there any further discussion? ' 



Mr. Delaney — I would like to ask Mr. Eaton a question. His 

 estimate on the ditching seems to be so broad that I would like 

 to ask him if he considers the different conditions of ditching 

 throughout the State, or is he considering only the green-grass 

 meadows in giving an estimate of the cost of drainage, or making 

 ditches ? 



The President — It would seem that there is an evolution 

 which is working in mosquito control, as in every other phase of 

 our existence. One can but listen to the papers here to see that 

 we are learning new methods, each one studying and trying to suit 

 the methods to his own conditions, all of which seem to differ 

 from one another. It would seem to be a mistake to rush the 

 thing faster than human intelligence and foresight can properly 

 do it. We are not only educating the public, we are educating 

 ourselves. We only have to go back a few years to have im- 

 pressed upon us the unwise promises which were made by those 

 best fitted to discuss and forecast the issue of this problem. We 

 see how mistaken they were. We see how far short their 

 methods fell from what they expected in results. There is no 

 question but what we are going to a finish on this thing. I think 

 the element of time is absolutely essential and necessary. I think 

 to ask for a tremendous appropriation to complete the work of 

 draining the salt marsh of the whole State in two years may be 

 the very worst step we could take. We, who have fought this 

 thing for six or eight years, feel that our opinion should have 



