P.—No. 9.

month of March, and I found in the stubble of the barley millions of thistles about an inch, high, that had been self-sown between the 11th of December and the time of reaping, and of the existence of which I was altogether ignorant. Under the Ordinance, any neighbour of mine who was aware of the existence of these small thistles might have laid an information against me, and, under the plea of Laving the thistles eradicated, might have destroyed the whole of my barley crop. In my opinion, the provisions of the Ordinance are oppressive, inasmuch as no penalty is inflicted on the Government for having nurseries of thistle seed on Crown land; and although there are thousands of thistles in my neighbourhood on other men's land, no information was laid against them —I alone was the victim. The Ordinance in question authorizes a duly constituted Inspector of Thistles, on the plea that thistles have not been eradicated, to invade any man's freehold with any number of men he thinks fit, and to send in any amount of charges for the payment of those men. The above provision is in repugnance to the law of England, and the common law of the land affords sufficient remedy to any person ; I therefore think that the Thistle Ordinance should be repealed. Mr. Eyes was examined, and stated— lam Member for Wairau, in the Province of Marlborough. A Thistle Ordinance was passed by the Provincial Council, but it was never brought into operation and has since been repealed. Between the time of its passing and the time of its repeal it remained a dead letter, because it would have been an act of injustice to have put it in force when the Crown lands and the public roads in the Province were covered with thistles, and the Government was altogether unable to clear ofF the thistles. Mr. E. G. Wood was examined, and stated — I am Member for the District of Parnell, in the Province of Auckland. lam the confidential agent of a gentleman who possessed a freehold property in the neighbourhood of the City of Auckland. He was a good deal troubled about the thistles growing on his land, and he made an arrangement in the first instance with a neighbour to give him so much a year for keeping his land clear of thistles. As long as that arrangement was carried out, the Thistle Inspector used to give the gentleman regular certificates that the land was clean ; but the demands from the neighbour became greater every year, until I advised my principal to cease paying this stipend, and he did so. He had no sooner stopped payment than another neighbour turned up and brought an action against my principal for damages, because he had allowed, as he stated, the thistle-down to get on his land and so propagate the thistles there. The action was first brought in the Resident Magistrate's Court, for ordinary damages, under the Common Law, and was dismissed. He then appealed to the Supreme Court, and lost his case there. Mv principal, a very quiet and inoffensive man, who has no desire to quarrel with his neighbours or go to law, was so disgusted with the whole affair that he requested me to sell the property, and I disposed of it accordingly by exchanging it for land in another part of the Province. Mr. ,Stafford was examined, and stated —■ lam Member for the District of Timaru, in the Province of Canterbury. lam at present residing at Nelson. A Thistle Ordinance was passed by the Provincial Council of Nelson. I believe it has been repealed, but I have no personal knowledge of the fact. The provisions of the Ordinance, utterly failed to prevent the spread of thistles. Ido not consider that thistles are noxious on inferior lands ; on the contrary, I think they are beneficial when those lands are first fenced in and not ploughed. The Chairman.'] It has been deposed before the Committee that there is land on the Waitara [River about a mile in length by about a quarter of a mile in depth, which was so covered with thistles that a horse could not go through them, and that now, without any human agency, it is as fine a grass meadow as can possibly be : Is such a thing likely to occur ?—Yes, I know many similar cases. Two or three acres of land at the mouth of the Ngaitai, in Nelson, were overrun with thistles; I have no reason to suppose that they were even stubbed off, certainly it was not ploughed nor dug, and now there is not a single thistle to be seen there, nor has there been for years. I rented a paddock in this town which was so covered with thistles that I could scarcely get through, it. I got it cleared with a scythe, and now it is perfectly free from thistles. "Within two or three years it became covered with grass and clover, and it is really a beautiful paddock. "When 1 first saw the paddocks of Mr. Nixon, at "Wanganui, in 1862 or 1863, they were one mass of thistles 6 or 7 feet high, and stock could not move through them. When I was there in 18C8 there was not a thistle to be seen, and Mr. Nixon told me he had never broken up the ground but had merely cut tracks through it for the stock. My opinion is that thistles, if left alone, will die out, and in many cases speedily. J. Cbaceoft Wilson.

Mr. Wilson, C.B. 3rd August, 1870.

-Mr. jßlyes. 3rd August, 1870.

Mr. Wood. 3rd August, 1870.

Mr. Stafford. 3rd August, 1870.

7

THE OPERATION OE THISTLE ORDINANCES.