There is still something further which is greatly prejudicial to the fair name of Australian wine, and it is this:  Many of the wine merchants hold very small stocks, so that any one supply soon runs out and is no longer obtainable.  As a result it is urged against the wines that they are not constant, and that it is impossible to procure the same wine twice running.  With larger stocks, too, there would be some certainty that the wine was matured, as for example with a merchant holding a three years’ supply.  In this case, also, the consumer would be enabled to obtain a continued supply of any particular wine to which he might have become attached.

My own belief, however, is that the most powerful impetus to our wine industry will arise from the Australians themselves taking an interest in all that concerns this great source of health, wealth, and employment.  I have said so before, and take this opportunity of saying so again.  Let our people take an active interest in every detail connected with the growing of the grape, and with the making of the wine!  Let a light, wholesome wine, also, enter into the daily dietary of the whole people!  For the national drink for Australian use is unquestionably a wine of low alcoholic strength; a wine of a sufficient age to be free from any reproach of newness; and a wine possessing those qualities which render it wholesome, beneficial, hygienic, cheering, and restorative.

There are two other matters which require to be noticed before leaping the whole subject of Australian wine.  The first of these is a reference to the establishment of Viticultural Colleges, and it is one of very great importance, because it has much to do with the development of the wine industry.  Now, I am not one of those who look to the State for everything, but it seems to me that if you recognise the necessity of State education, you must at least equally recognise the necessity of affording the youthful population of Australia the opportunity of learning that which must eventually develop into the one distinctive industry of this land.  France at the present day, even with her unrivalled reputation as the wine-growing country of the world, avails herself of the advantages of Viticultural Colleges.  Italy, also, by means of their help is making strides in a manner actually bordering on the miraculous.  If these countries, then, in which vine-growing and winemaking have been carried on for centuries find Viticultural Colleges indispensable, how much more must a young country, with its wine industry quite undeveloped, need them!

It must with confidence be said, therefore, that Australia cannot do without these Viticultural Colleges.  Something has already been done by the establishment of Agricultural Colleges, and this is most commendable.  But what I believe is this, that a wine-grower must be a wine-grower and nothing else.  To know everything connected with the growth of the grape and cellar management thoroughly is quite enough for any ordinary man to attempt to master.  Therefore viticulture must either be made a distinctly separate course at the Agricultural Colleges; or, what if better still, Viticultural Colleges must be established for the purpose alone.