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broad-minded; practically, it is far-sighted and businesslike. It contains the true Imperial spirit, and the element of commercial genius. Some excellent pictures are exhibited of New Zealand natural scenery and agricultural development." The New Zealand Government Agent in Melbourne, who had charge of the exhibit, says he lias had many inquiries concerning the possibilities of trade in the products that were displayed from British, American, French, and German merchants who visited the Exhibition, and Australian merchants have shown a lively interest in New Zealand products, notably timber, rugs, hemp, and sulphur. The thanks of the Department are due to Mr. George Chirnside (whose family have been generous in their gifts of fauna to New Zealand at various times) for the loan of some magnificent stags' heads and trout obtained by him on his last visit to New Zealand. The New Zealand exhibit on being transferred to Launceston struck a popular chord, and the Tasmanian public were greatly interested. In opening this Exhibition the Prime Minister of the Commonwealth, after referring to the Australian exhibits, said, " In addition, exhibits come also from our cherished sister, the Dominion of New Zealand, beyond the Tasman Sea. —(Cheers.) —You have, therefore, an Australasian Exhibition. The motives in our dealings with one another should be those which will bind us together indissolublv. No matter what walks of life we may be in, we must appeal to those motives, and look to their bearing in the distant future. We must keep that before our minds, not on behalf of ourselves, but on behalf of our children and our children's children. The lesson we must learn from it all is that we must stand together. The British settlements in these seas are divided by great distances from the Mother-country and from the great Dominion of New Zealand. There are great Powers much nearer to us than any of the other dominions if we take New Zealand into the Australian circles, and we have to realise more and more that it is to each and to ourselves that we must look for assistance to sustain the shock, whether it be of industrial or of armed strife.— (Cheers)." The Launceston Daily Telegraph said, " The New Zealand exhibit is a masterpiece of advertising, and the Dominion's display is alone worth a visit to the Exhibition." The Bobart Mercury said, " The New Zealand Government make a really fine display. It must not be supposed, however, that the Government are the actual exhibitors. The names of the exhibitors are attached to the goods (or to most of them), and evidently the Government, with practical patriotism and paternity, have taken the products of their people under their care, and show them to the people of Australia. The goods exhibited include bottled and tinned foods, biscuits, kauri-gum, woollen goods, tow and hemp, wines, farm and orchard produce; and they are an interesting display, giving some idea of the variety of New Zealand products."

APPENDIX 11. REPORT OF H. C. CAMERON, PRODUCE COMMISSIONER. Sir,— 15th April, 1908. I have the honour to submit the annual report of the work done hy me as Produce Commissioner under your direction during the past twelve months: — General. Year by year the work of this division has been steadily expanding, and the period now under review has certainly been no exception to this progressive state of affairs. The number of reports made by me to you, and then transmitted to Wellington, again show a considerable increase, eighty-three having been submitted, as against seventy-two during the previous twelvemonth. As an indication of the varying nature of the duties that are now undertaken, enumeration of the principal subjects dealt with in these reports may be useful: Dairy-produce, butter and cheese; Butter and Margarine Bill; adulterated butter; excessive moisture in butter; short-weight butter; dairy shows and general exhibitions; advertising New Zealand butter; experimental shipments of cool-cured cheese; distribution of New Zealand mutton; War Office contracts; New Zealand canned meat contracts ; boneless beef; importation of New Zealand beef into France; appointment of veterinary surgeons; New Zealand hemp ; New Zealand apple shipments; Poultry Conference; distribution of New Zealand literature; fires on wool-ships; Irish International Exhibition; Franco-British Exhibition. Throughout the year the regular work of inspection of produce has been carried on. Visits have been paid to vessels on arrival at the docks, and the condition of the various lines of New Zealand produce received has been noted. The temperatures maintained in the freezing and chill rooms during the voyage have been ascertained from the engineers' logs, and records of them have been supplied to Wellington. The ports on the west coast of England at which direct shipments of New Zealand produce are now received have been visited, and the discharge and handling of produce there has been supervised ; while the distribution of the produce by merchants in these centres has been carefully watched. Cablegrams have been regularly sent each week to Wellington giving the prices and information concerning the markets for mutton, lamb, beef, butter, cheese, hemp, and cocksfoot-seed; while each month the particulars concerning these lines have been supplemented by information