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H.—2

Second Day.—Wednesday, 26th Octobee, 1892. Present: Mr. J. Eoberts, C.M.G., Acting-Chairman; and Messrs. A. Bruce, New South Wales; P. E. Gordon, Queensland ; T. A. Tabart and A. Park, Tasmania; J. D. Eitchie, J. F. McClean, Coleman Phillips, W. Boag, T. Brydone, F. Lawry, and J. McNicol, New Zealand. Mr. McNicol was introduced to the Conference, and took his seat as a representative of New Zealand. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. Scab, New Zealand.—(Continued from page 11.) Mr. Eitchie, replying to Mr. Tabart's motion on this subject, notice of which was given at the previous sitting, said he had supplied a report that morning which he desired that gentleman to look at. With regard to the first part of the motion, he (Mr. Eitchie) had searched the Gazette notices, and had failed to find any Proclamation declaring the colony to be clean. The only notification they had to that effect was to be gathered from the printed lists in the Gazette, which gave the number of infected sheep at each quarter of the year. Of course, taking them off the infected list was tantamount to declaring them to be clean. It would be seen by the Gazette notices produced that there were no sheep in the colony on the infected list on the 30th June, 1890. The second part of the motion was answered by his remarks on the first, and the third part was covered by the Inspector's reports. With regard to the work done during the past two years, he might say that the Kaikoura and Marlborough country generally had been thoroughly scoured by men employed by the Government; and, although a number of wild and marked sheep had been killed, there was not a scabby sheep to be seen. There were some two thousand in the Marlborough-Nelson District on the infected list for March, 1890; but these were withdrawn from the infected list in the following quarter—June—so that they were regarded as clean from that date. With reference to the Auckland District, it would be seen by the reports supplied to the department on the 3rd April, 1890, that the Inspector states, " The Kaiawa flock at Miranda is now the only one on the infected list in my districts—Auckland, Waikawa, and Miranda. These Kaiawa sheep will"be mustered for inspection next week ; and I quite expect them clean, and to give them a clean certificate." If they looked at the Gazette notice they would see that these sheep in the Auckland District came off the infected list in June following, so that they got a clean certificate on that date. They would also notice that that report was given by a different Inspector, Mr. Clifton, who took charge of the district from Mr. Bayly. Mr. Tabaet would like to know what time had elapsed between Auckland being declared clean and the date of the subsequent outbreak. Mr. Eitchie said there were no sheep on the infected list in 1887, but they would find some on the list in March, 1889. Mr. Tabaet asked if the Auckland District was clean prior to 1887. Mr. Eitchie said he had not gone so far back as that. Mr. Tabaet considered it important to know, if these sheep were clean in 1887, what was the cause of the outbreak. Mr. Lawby said, perhaps he might be able to give some information about the sheep at Miranda, because he had been familiar with the facts. The Auckland flocks had been declared clean for some time previous to 1887, except in the case of an outbreak in the Waikato. Scab had broken out in the Coromandel district, and it was presumed that Mr. Porter's flock had become infected in consequence of his bringing a few sheep from Coromandel; but they had been clean since that time—he thought, about three years. Mr. Porter's flock had been kept in a bight in the river, and were confined. They were kept there until they were absolutely clean. That was three years ago. They could not get away. Mr. Beuce asked for proof of the statement in respect to the Marlborough District. Mr. Eitchie said he had had a special inspection made of the Marlborough country. So far as the department knew, they had had no infected sheep since the 30th June, 1890. Mr. Beuce asked what steps had been taken to satisfy the department that there were none. Mr. Eitchie replied that since that period the Government had spent thousands of pounds in scouring the Marlborough country. The flocks had come into muster under inspection for two years past, and there had not been a single scabby sheep amongst them. There were two Inspectors stationed at Blenheim, and two at Nelson. A new Inspector had been appointed, and he also has made an inspection of the flocks. Last year he (Mr. Eitchie) gave the Inspectors strict instructions to be at the sheds when the sheep of those doubtful flocks came in, and they were reported to be clean then. The Inspectors also went out and camped on the run, and rounded up the sheep. They shot a few to see if they were infected. One or two of them were wild sheep. Mr. Goedon wished to have placed on record whether an inspection of the Maori sheep had taken place, to see that there was no disease among them. Mr. Eitchie said there had never been any disease amongst the Maori sheep within the knowledge of the department. Last year he had sent a man out, and he came back with a clean report. They had not been able to get a thorough inspection of all the flocks, but they had been coming out to every sale, and, so far as was known, nothing was wrong with those sheep. He had Inspectors now out for this purpose. They had been away for about ten days, and he expected them back in a day or two. Mr. McNicol, referring to the Maori sheep, said he had passed thousands of them through his hands every year, and he could honestly say that the Maori sheep as a rule were in a better condition than European sheep. In fact, people buying hoggets preferred to get those from the Kingcountry, as being bigger and stronger. The Maoris have sheep-dips, and now make a regular practice of dipping their flocks,