asked the Minister for Agriculture if he will state whether it is proposed to reintroduce the practice of erecting wire fences on lands where the land rehabilitation project is being operated.

Experience of the working of the land project showed that the demand for fencing was very heavy and that the work was proving so expensive as to be prejudicial to the more important work of field and out-fall drainage and the clearance of rock and scrub. It was, therefore, decided drastically to restrict fencing work, and the position is that fencing is now provided for only in rare instances where it is established that the improved land cannot be worked without some fencing.