I  do  not  take  exception  to  the  comments  on  the  Blue  Book  and  published  retaras
of  New  South  Wales  of  1875,  because  these  returns  were  ver^  incomplete,  and  at
that  time  opinions  were  divided  on  the  subject,  a  considerable  mmority  of  cattleH>wn-
ers  haviuRbeen  strongly  under  the  influence  of  Professor  Simmons'  opinion,  which
was  largely  circulated  throughout  the  colonies.  With  an  additional  twelve  years'
experience  of  the  subject,  however,  I  am  safe  in  asserting  that  if  the  cattie-owners
of  Australia  of  to-day  were  appealed  to  opinions  would  be  all  but  unanimous  in  favor
of  the  practice.  Such,  at  least,  would  be  the  verdict  of  my  own  colony,  and  no  one
is  in  a  oetter  position  than  I  am  to  judge  of  this  matter.  Inoculation  had  necessa-
rily  to  be  carried  out  by  non-professional  men  on  most  of  the  herds,  and  these  pos-
seted Uttle  knowledge  as  to  the  selection  of  proper  virus.  The  cattle  were  wild,
few  of  them  having  ever  been  handled,  except  when  being  branded  as  calves,  and
it  will  readily  be  understood  that  the  operation  was  performed — ^in  cruah-peziB— in
a  very  primitive  manner.  The  difficultv  in  mustering  wild  herds  rendered  it  im-
possible that  every  animal  in  a  herd  could  be  inoculated.  On  many  herds  the  prac-
tice was  not  adopted  at  £dl,  and  as  there  were  no  restrictions  on  the  traveling  of  in-
fected and  diseased  stock,  the  disease  was  kept  constantly  alive  in  the  colonies.
