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684. What is the other part ?—Part of that has been sold. I think two lots in the block have ■ been sold ; one leased. 685. Were you put to much expense ?—Yes. 686. Are there other scabby flocks in your neighbourhood ? —Yes; there is the Upton Downs flock. I got infected from that flock. Mr. Busby has also a run in my neighbourhood. 687. How long has Mr. Busby been infected?—l think for the last twelve months. 688. Has he taken all necessary steps for cleaning ? —I think he has; but Ido not think he has been using the right material. 689. What has he been using ? —Little's dip. 690. It has not been effective with him ?—lt does not work well with him. 691. Was that under the direction of the Inspector?—l do not think so. I think he used it because it was more convenient. He had faith in it, and I believe he has faith in it still. 692. Who is the Inspector in your district ? —Mr. Blundell. 693. Are you satisfied with the way in which he performs his duties ?—I think so. I have nothing to say against the Inspectors, except that I think they have been in the district too long. They ought to be moved about from time to time. I think they may be kept a little too long in one district. I think Mr. Blundell has been in the district too long. 694. Do you wish to draw the attention of the Committee to any clauses of the Act which you consider capable of amendment ?—No ; I have never found it unworkable. It is workable enough if a person wishes to do his duty and clean his sheep. I have had no difficulty with it whatever. 695. Of course the working of the Act depends very much on the Inspector ?—Yes. 696. Are you satisfied with the way the Inspectors have acted when putting the Act in force in the district generally ?—At the present time I am satisfied, but I think they have given quite sufficient time to people to clean. I think the Act ought now to be put in force. They have given the runholders ample time to eradicate scab without making the Act ruinous in any way. 697. Have you no fault to find with the Act, or the way in which it is enforced, beyond this: that, up to the present time, it has not been strictly enforced in certain cases; and you think that, ample time having been allowed, the Act ought now to be strictly enforced ?—I think so ; that is my Opinion. The only scabby flocks belong to people who have been working against the Act instead of with it. 698. Of course the difficulty of cleaning a flock will depend to some extent on the ground : do you think there is any portion of the Marlborough District that is so difficult to clean that time should be allowed? —I do not know any part of Marlborough to which that applies. The most difficult parts of Marlborough are all clean. I have some of it myself; the Birch Hill country is most difficult. 699. If all in the district had taken the same method, and used the same efforts to clean, you think the whole district would have been clean ?—I think so ;itis a mere matter of fencing. 700. Do you think that it should be a question for the consideration of the Committee as to whether the owner of a run has the means to fence or not ? Or I will put the question in another form: Is it an injury to sheepowners when one person neglects to carry out the directions under the Act: do you think it is an injury to the others, who are working under the Act, that some should be allowed not to clean ? —I should think so, for you see in this case I got scab from my neighbour, my neighbour got it from some wild sheep. The whole country may become scabby again; worse, perhaps, than when it first started. 701. Do you know anything of sheep being driven from the Marlborough District to the Nelson District ?—I was speaking to Inspector Blundell about it. I knew the run where the sheep went from. 702. Do you think there was any blame to be attached to Mr. Blundell?—I think he ought to have been more particular. There is no doubt he had been misled by the Inspector they had down in the Sound, who made some misstatement that he had been over three runs, and afterwards it was discovered that-he had not been on the ground. These sheep were passed by Mr. Blundell, who sent them on to Nelson. There is a certain amount of blame attaching to the Inspe 'tor. It was rather rough on the Inspector after passing the other. Mr. Blundell was thrown off his guard. 703. Is it not necessary that sheep coming from an infected to a clean district should be dipped?—lf the sheep that are going to travel hold a clean certificate for the year, and travel over a clean country, I do not see why they should. 704. But, they are dipped as a matter of fact ? —That is when they come to the boundary. Marlborough is an infected district; Nelson is clean. 705. On the border, do they dip ?—I think not, unless they pass through an infected district. 706. The Act requires that ? —I may be wrong there. I think at one time they did not dip, but I think they are now dipped on the boundary. 707. Mr. Buchanan.) Do you know the Kaikoura country, coming by Ingles's and Gibson's? —Yes. 708. You said just now the hill country was bad : do you consider it would be difficult to clean that country ? —lt is a matter of fencing. 709. You are satisfied, from your own experience, that fencing is the only thing required to enable any one to ctean the most difficult country in the Marlborough Province ? -Yes; but you must shut out the rugged parts of the run. Once you have a portion that is well fenced, you can kill off the wild sheep. 710. In a country like that, are fences liable to be damaged by snow ? —Yes. I have fences 7,000 ft. above the sea. 711. Where there are owners adjoining Crown lands, do these Crown lands constitute an exceptional difficulty ?—I think not. When we had our runs fenced, we combined ;we had some assistance from the Government, and we had men to destroy all the sheep outside.