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in connection with the Bordeaux Exhibition of 1882, duly printed by order of Parliament, and upon which I will not deal at greater length here. I am prepared to bring strong scientific and official evidence of the undoubted efficiency of these remedies all over France, Spain, Portugal, Austria, and Italy; as also that destruction has been a failure and a fallacy wherever resorted to, and even in some cases, as in Austria and Sicily, has been a cause of riots and rebellion against local authorities. The experience of other countries is fully in accord with that of France, and if it was not that I am pressed by time, and by money considerations, I could have added many appendices to these already long notes ; but these documents, if time is allowed and a select committee appointed for the purpose, I am prepared to bring forward.
If the officer to be in charge of the Act is competent, it should be his duty to select
such particular remedies as may be best adapted to any particular vineyard, whilst for him to convince the owners and the Board of Appeal of the soundness of his actions should prove an easy task, provided the members of the Board are selected amongst practical vine growers and truly scientific men, however new the question of Phylloxera may be to them.
In conclusion, and under the benefit of the above remarks, I fervently hope and humbly pray your Honourable House that this Colony may be saved from the infliction fo the Act now proposed by the Government, and I appeal to all vine growers, wine makers, and merchants, or others having at heart the good and prosperity of the Colony, and of one of its most promising industries, to join and do their utmost to prevent this Act becoming law, or, if passed, to have it expunged as soon as possible from our Colonial Statute Book.
To complete this memorandum, I have embodied in it the amendments which I now beg to submit to the high appreciation and support of the Legislative Council, adding to these such short arguments as each appears to demand.
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AMENDMENTS REQUIRED TO THE PROPOSED "VINE DISEASES BILL."
Section 3.–(1.) This Section should say the word district would mean police district, as
it then would greatly simplify matters, delimitations, and inspection.
It should also leave out the word grapes, but include in it prohibitions vine roots and vine leaves, for these are the sole parts of the vines upon which the insect can be detected : always on the roots, in all its stages, and upon the leaves only under the form of eggs or egg nests, or as winged insect, which also lay his winter egg upon old bark ; but these last states are very seldom seen, and their roots are practically the only parts from the appearance of which vines can be reported upon as diseased, unless the vines have actually reached a complete stage of decay, from which they cannot be redeemed.
( 2.) This Section should clearly give it to the Inspector authority to enter with his assistants or workmen, by first giving in all cases, due notice to the person in charge, if any, and he should have precise power to examine a reasonable number of vines planted in any vineyard, and at their roots, uprooting such as he may deem proper, and to otherwise proceed as he may deem necessary ton enable him to ascertain whether or not the insect is in the vineyard. Unless the roots are inspected, it is absolutely impossible to report whether the vines are diseased or not, but it is not necessary for this to uproot entirely any particular vine. Of course, all vines uprooted, or otherwise injured, so as to be destroyed or unproductive, might be paid for as provided by other sections of the Act.
( 3.) This Section should further provide that the Inspector should send within the next twenty-four hours, to the Minister, a report upon every vineyard inspected, stating therein whether such is diseased or not, the extent of the disease (if any), and advising whether it should be destroyed, or if it is worth being cured, and in this last event what treatment appear to him best adapted to each particular vineyard.
As to the three miles radius, it should be done away with as useless, for, by the time the insect is detected in any one plantation, 12 months at least have generally elapsed since the origin of such focus, during which time the winged insect has been spreading, and creating new focus in a more or less latent state among the vineyards of the neighbourhood, unless the nearest vines are isolated by considerable distance, or high mountains, or thick forests of trees.
( 4.) The Section should then stipulate that in the event of a vineyard being reported as diseased, the Minister will decide at once what is to be done with is, and such decision notified within the three days of its date, to the person in charge of the vineyard, together with a copy of the Inspector's report. An appeal should be left open from such Inspector's report, within the three days following the receipt of the Minister's decision, to a special Board, appointed