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have an orchard now, and my neighbour has an orchard, and he does nothing with it. The consequence is that his orchard is absolutely stinking with blights of all sorts, and I have to work his orchard as well as my own. I can safely say he gets nothing out of it. 206. Mr. Massey.] What distance is his orchard from yours ?—Just across the road ; about three-quarters of a chain. 207. Does he cultivate it ? —No. 208. What is the size of it?— About 4or 5 acres. 209. Does the owner live on it?—-No ;he lives about half a mile away on a farm of his. 210. Is he a professional fruit-grower? —No; he is a farmer, something like myself. 211. Do you represent an association?— No. I was merely asked to come in here by Mr. Blackmore or Mr. Norton. Ido not know which, I think Mr. Blackmore spoke to Mr. Bitchie about it. 212. Were you in Wellington at the time?—' Yes ;it was yesterday. 213. You just happened to be here?— Yes. 214. And you were requested by Mr. Blackmore to come and give evidence ?—Yes. 215. How many acres of fruit have you ? —About 2 acres. 216. Have you made it a commercial success ? —Yes, until the codlin-moth came about, and I hope to do so again. For the last three years it has not been a success, and I have got nothing out of it. 217. Until then you were not troubled with the codlin-moth ? —No. 218. But you say you used remedies last year for the first time?— Yes; in a systematic way. We did something spasmodic before that, but it did not amount to much. 219. We have had evidence to the effect that last season the codlin-moth was not nearly so numerous as usual ? —I did not know that. 220. Is that your experience ?—No ; I will find you plenty. 221. Which do you think most effective, spraying or bandaging? —Well, the means I employ impress us in this way : supposing a man sprayed and did not bandage, and another bandaged and did not spray, one would be no better off than the other. Ido not think the two can be worked separately. 222. How often do you spray ?—Seven times between the middle of October and the end of January. 223. Has it ever happened that after spraying a shower of rain came and washed it off? —Yes. 224. Then, the spraying would be of no value on that particular occasion ? —No. 225. Mr. Meredith.] You say the Government expert, Mr. Blackmore, visited your district last year ?—Yes. 226. Did you come into personal contact with him?— Yes. He gave me an object-lesson on my farm. 227. Do you consider him a practical man?— Yes, certainly. 228. Was he at all offensive and annoying when you met him at the instruction which he gave ?—No ; he was most courteous and obliging. 229. Supposing your opinion was in conflict with his, did you find any irritation on his part ? —No. 230. Last year you had a good crop of fruit from carrying out the remedial steps recommended by Mr. Blackmore ?—That is my idea. 231. Do you consider that the visits of Mr. Blackmore to the Blenheim and other districts would be beneficial? —Certainly, except that he did not stay long enough with us. 232. Then, the Committee is at liberty to believe that his visits did good, but you had not enough of them ?—Yes.

Tuesday, 16th August, 1898, Mr. S. Kiekpateick examined. 1. Hon. the Chairman.] What is your profession?—l am a jam-manufacturer; manufacturer of the " X " brand of jam. 2. Where do you reside ? —At Nelson. 3. Have you had any experience personally of fruit-culture ?—I have over an acre of orchard myself, and I cultivated it for a little time, but the whole of the fruit was stolen. 4. Have you had any experience with regard to the treatment of garden pests ? —Yes. I should like to make a statement. There was a Mr. Piper over here who styled himself secretary to the Nelson Fruit-growers' Association. I used to belong to this Nelson Fruit-growers' Association, and I think the subscription to it wa3 ss. a year, but it simply died a natural death. It came down to two or three only attending the meetings, and gradually died. We had a president and a secretary, who were elected annually, as is usually the case with such associations. Mr. Piper has not been elected to the secretaryship of the association for years, as it died about six or seven years ago, or perhaps more. There is, therefore, no such thing in existence as the Nelson Fruitgrowers' Association, and without any question there were very few what might be called commercial fruit-growers in it. I went to Takaka, Eiwaka, and Motucka with Mr. Blackmore to see the orchards there. I drove him round the district and visited the different orchards. He examined the different orchards, and took an infinite amount of trouble to show men what to do and how to work properly in keeping their orchard. There is not a man in that district—and this is the principal fruit-growing part of the Nelson District—who is not grateful for the instruction he gave them. Of course, we in Nelson know Mr. Piper, but, outside Nelson, if people saw a letter signed by Mr. Piper as secretary of the Nelson Fruit-growers' Association it might bear weight, because