impossible when one has so many insects which come under that heading to enlarge the office to cover anything more. I am single handed in the work, and have not even an office boy. You can understand therefore that in taking up the investigation of one or two insects at a time, one's hours are fully occupied. The fact that I am single handed limits that work considerably. The principal insect pests are taken in their turn as far as we can determine the position and their relative value to crops and animals. The bulk of that work comes under the heading of orchard and garden pests. It is my duty when an insect is brought in by a field officer to be able to determine for him what it is, the nature of it, and the best methods to take to deal with it. Mr Wickens is in charge of the outside administration, and he sees that remedial measures are carried out. If an inspector is familiar with an insect he prescribes the bait, and he does not refer the matter to me. If an outbreak is obscure, and trouble arises, the insect is sent on to me to determine the nature of it and what ought to be done. I have undertaken a great deal of work in the last three or four years, and have made a complete study of the life and treatment of the fruit-fly, which undoubtedly was the most serious scourge the men on the land had to contend with and which, two or three years ago, threatened to annihilate the fruit industry. The position had become so serious that it had resolved itself into the existence of the fruit grower or the fruit-fly. It was only after a very close study of the insect that it was possible to in any way cope with it. One has to work out local conditions, and the local life history, and also to discover fresh characteristics in regard to that particular insect. For instance we found here that the fruit fly attacked lemons, whereas in many other parts of the world it had no such record. With regard to codlin moth, we found that it attacked the terminal shoots of the apple and pear trees. That was quite new, and somewhat novel. In working out the life history and treatment of the fruit-fly there was necessitated a great amount of experimenting and the resting of different baits and formulas, until I brought forward the bait called "the Newman Fruit Fly Bait." Since then I have not rested, because I considered we had not reached finality, and I have produced a further bait known as the pollard bait which, in my opinion, surpasses the previous molasses and fruit juice bait. I found that by using cyanide as the poison in place of arsenate of lead, we could get better results, but we had to drop that poison because of the danger to human life and stock. I have here a copy of the Bulletin I issued giving details of the experiments and the formulae used in connection with the fruit fly, though not the latest formulae. I issued another Bulletin in connection with the codlin moth, and I have now ready for publication as soon as funds are available, a Bulletin on the potato moth. I regard the potato moth as a serious menace to the potato grower, as serious as the fruit-fly was to the fruit grower. You might actually call it the "potato fruit-fly" to make people realise that it is a serious pest, although I so not wish it to be published that I consider the potato moth is a fly, because it is not. The economic loss annually from the potato moth is appalling in this State. I lecture throughout the country, particularly during the winter months, because in the summer months people are too much occupied on their farms in the daytime, and they do not care to go out in the evening. The lectures are on the various insect pest, according to what the societies ask me to deal with. The work of the office is also devoted to the breeding and distribution of beneficial parasites. Mr George Compere, when I first joined the department, was then the entomologist, and he was paid for his services partly by the State and partly by California. He travelled round the world and secured many beneficial parasites which he forwarded to me to breed and distribute. In introducing a primary parasite, care must be taken not to introduce a secondary, otherwise you nullify the benefit expected from the primary parasite you are endeavouring to establish. In forwarding beneficial insects, care must be taken to see that none but the beneficial insects are liberated. Sometimes the host arrives here and breeds out in the cages, so that if one were indifferent to the work, it would be an east matter to introduce a new pest. Just now I am engaged in a very interesting study, and it is the breeding and distribution of blowfly parasites. The blowfly is one of the greatest scourges of the present day, especially to sheep farmers. I have now numbers of these parasites in the cages laying their eggs into the pupae of the blowfly and these are to be sent out by arrangement, I hope, with such firms or agents as Dalgety & Co., Elder, Shenton & Co., and others, who are acquainted with the various breeders of sheep, and they will see to the distribution of the parasites. The parasite is a chalcid wasp, received per favour of Mr Froggatt, Entomologist of New South Wales. There is another parasite which I have discovered here, and which I hope will be a great adjunct to the one which was sent to me, and as a quid pro quo I shall send a colony to New South Wales. I have numerous callers daily. Under the Quarantine Act I have to determine whether the insect is new, obnoxious, or otherwise. With regard to the wheat stacks, it is my duty to constantly keep them under my eye, although I have nothing to do with the building of the stack. I report the fact if I find that there are conditions which should be attended to. That about covers the scope of my work.

12135. By Mr VENN: How are you getting on with the potato moth?—That is a serious question, and until we get the local potato growers to realise what they are losing, and that the Eastern States potato is often preferred to ours on account of its comparative freedom from this pest, I do not know how we can overcome it. It is the summer crop that gives the trouble. "Fly" is a misnomer, for it is a true moth, a little grey moth which can lay up to 120 eggs, each egg giving birth to a caterpillar which bores into the eyes of the tuber. To avoid the trouble the grower must be prepared to use clean seed, to cultivate properly, to dig under proper sanitary conditions, and store under similar conditions. Then the moth can be overcome. I have fumigated samples with carbon bi-sulphide and I have taken from the same crop other samples, which I have left untreated. On subsequent examination the untreated samples have been found to be simply rotten with the moth, while the treated tubers were sound and moth-free. Until such time as the potato grower realises that he has to build for himself a cheap suitable storage and fumigation house, he will never succeed in combating the pest. I have seen on a merchant's premises 250 bags of potatoes condemned by the inspector in one