AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES CONFERENCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2363, 31 May 1892, Page 3

AGRICULTURAL SOCIETIES CONFERENCE.

At the Conference at Christchurch on Friday, it was decided that the collection of the dog taxes should be placed in the hands of the police ; that the quarantine charges be reduced to a reasonable rate, the present regulations are so defective that the objects of the quarantine are rendered nugatory, and that the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association should look into the matter, and recommend a fair scale of charges; that in view of the statement of Mr Ritchie that as" soon as he was that the Sounds district was free from scab, ho would take steps to haye the colony declared clean, no further discussion on the subject was necessary ; that a better system of the registration of earmarks and brands for sheep be adopted ; that the attention of the Government be called to the huge amount of sheep stealing b; " ealandj and mat they be asked to at once take remedial measures, such as offering rewards, etc.; that the Railway Commissioner's 1,0 asked to reduce the railway charges on stock, agricultural produce, and manures, and to introduce a better class ol sheep and cattle trucks, and insulated vans for carrying dairy produce, and to provide bettor accommodation for trucking sheep at country stations; that a tax of £lO should be imposed on stallions and £5 on pony stallions, under II hands, used for stud purposes ; that stallions be registered, under a penalty, with the Stock Department, the tax to be distributed among the Agricultural and Pastoral Associations in the districts where it is collected, and expended in special prizes in the horse glasses ; that no stallion bo used for stud purposes unless “qaraqteed sound l,y i* r qualified veterinary surgeon appointed for the purpose ; that a vote of thanks bo accorded to the Canterbury Association, and especially to the secretary (Mr Murphy) for compiling the herd and stqd books. On Friday night it was decided to ask the Government to appoint irrigation officers to report on local schemes and simply expert information ; to draw the attention of the Government to the insecure packing of arsenic in transit; to recommend that the Agent-General should be asked to report upon the manner in which New Zealand apples

arrive in England; also that the Government ho asked to endeavour to arrange an intercolonial conference to consider the question of the interchange of colonial products free of Customs duty; that in consequence of the prevalence of disease in st»ck, public abattoirs should be established at all largo towns ; that another conference of Agricultural and Pastoral Associations bo held within three years. Votes of thanks were passed to the Canterbury Association and to the secretary (Mr Murphy), and the conference closed.