In the relief of the unemployed and the imposition of additional taxation, the Ministry, while choosing their methods, have dealt with problems which they were bound to face; but they have not confined themselves to the negative task of coping with existing difficulties. They have realised that greater commercial activity would permanently benefit the revenue and add to the demand for labour, and that, in a country like South Australia, it could only be secured by a wider and more varied cultivation of the soil, and have, with the hearty support of the Labour Party, seized every opportunity to encourage production and develop the export trade. Farmers already had the advantage of an Agricultural Bureau at Adelaide, {21} with local branches, which periodically disseminated information, and of an Agricultural College to which they could send their sons, at a small annual charge, or gratuitously if they could obtain a scholarship; but they were hindered, when the fall in the value of cereals compelled them to turn their attention to subsidiary industries, by the absence of facilities for obtaining a market for subsidiary products. The limited demand in the Colony for butter, fruit, and wine offered insufficient inducement to farmers and small cultivators. Previous to 1893, the total export of butter did not exceed the value of L1,200, but in that year and in 1894 a bonus was offered by the Government, with the result that butter of the value of L110,000 has since been shipped. They also formed a Produce Export Department through which producers can ship their goods to London, entered into a contract with the Peninsular and Oriental and Orient Steamship Companies for cheap rates of carriage, and established in London a Wine and Produce Depot to receive the goods and sell them on the most favourable terms. A receiving depot has since been established at Port Adelaide and refrigerating machinery and chambers have been erected, which enable the Department to receive sheep and send them as frozen meat to England. Butter, wine, frozen meat, and fruit have been sent to London through the Department, and in some cases prices have been realised which far surpassed those which could have been obtained in {22} the local market. The scheme is not yet self-supporting, as, though the charges cover the expenses, the salaries of the additional officials required in the Ministry, and an annual sum of some L3,500 for the maintenance of the Depot in London, fall upon the revenue of the country; but this expenditure is more than repaid by the impetus undoubtedly given to trade which would not otherwise have been afforded owing to the absence of private enterprise. The Ministry have undertaken a work in which individuals would have had little chance of success, and have enabled small consignors to ship their produce at wholesale rates. Their object also has been, in the words of the Minister of Agriculture (Dr. Cockburn), "to afford a guarantee of quality.