1 Ava., 1898.] QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. 121 
for flying-foxes would be a great benefit to the country, and perhaps inoculation 
would be as good a plan as any to adopt. He had seen flying-fox camps—yvery 
large ones—and would never think of shooting them. It would be too much 
of an undertaking, and the migratory habits of the foxes had to be considered. 
A part of a camp would be destroyed, and the rest would leave, but, after 
breeding again, they would only come back. If inoculation were practicable 
it would be easy enough to get foxes for the purpose, and at any rate plenty of 
them could be got in Gympie. He had scores of them coming on to a fig-tree 
of Be every night, and during the year they appeared to destroy every manner 
of fruit. 
Mr. H. Epps (Childers) said that in his district the grub pest was a very 
serious one, and they had also raised a fund for its check, which was subsidised 
by the Government. So far they had destroyed about 1,000,000 of these grubs, 
but he considered the question of their destruction should be on a legal basis. 
Contribution to the fund should be made compulsory, inasmuch as under the 
present voluntary system there were a number who would not assist in the 
work of extermination. He thought a small Actshould be passed to permit of. 
a levy being made, upon those interested, in a given area for the destruction of 
grubs. Such an Act was suggested to the central Government eighteen months 
ago, but the reply was that the matter would be included in the Local 
Government Act that was then being prepared, and would be dealt with there. 
At the time he had pointed out that this would be undesirable, because 
divisional boards had other work to do, and many of the remarks that had been 
made there that day had clinched the opinion in his mind that the work should 
not be done by divisional boards. At any rate the Local Government Act did 
not go through, and they did not know whether it would go through next 
session. He would therefore like to see aresolution passed that the Conference 
was of opinion that a short Bill should be presented to Parliament to deal with 
the matter, as it was a very important one, and one that should be dealt with. 
It was only very recently that he had seen that a number of planters on the 
Johnstone River had been completely eaten out by grubs. 
Mr. E. Swayne (Mackay) agreed with what Mr. Epps had said, and in 
Mackay several farmers had been ruined through the same pest. There the 
Government had been endowing voluntary subscriptions, and last year between 
£500 and £600 had been contributed for beetle destruction, the subsidy on it 
being 17s. 1d. in the £1. About 16 tons of beetles were destroyed. ‘This year 
between £500 and £600 had again been subscribed, and had been endowed by 
the Government at the rate of 14s. 9d. in the £1. So far about 14 tons of 
beetles had been destroyed, and the people of the district had responded so 
readily that the necessity for legislation had not pressed itself upon them. 
However, he would not oppose Mr. Epps in his desire for such legislation; 
although so far as Mackay was concerned it had not been wanted up to the 
present, 
In reply to Mr. Bytheway, Mr. Swayne said the grub and the beetle were 
two different forms of the same insect. The damage was done by the grub, 
but the pest was more easily dealt with when in the beetle stage. 
Mr. Cuaraway said he had been asked by Mr. Whiteley to state that Mr. 
Ranking, of Rockhampton, had some years ago made a box trap similar to that 
suggested by Mr. Peek, and that it had not been a success. With regard to 
compulsory taxation for grubs, what Mr. Epps had said was very true, but in 
all these matters it was necessary they should take wide views. They had to 
be certain they did not create a strong opposition to the legislation. ‘There 
was in this case, as in all others, a minority that required protection. The Isis 
district might be taken as an example. There was a large area there which 
was interested in suppressing the grub pest. But again there was a large 
area outside which had no interest whatever in combating the pest, 
except the general interest they had in the country. ‘They had no 
special interest which would justify them, in their own opinion, in 
contributing directly towards the suppression of the pest. In many 
