The Wanganui Chronicle. AND Patea-Rangitikei Advertiser "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3. 1897. ORCHARD AND GARDEN PESTS.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XXIX, Issue 12287, 3 December 1897, Page 2

The Wanganui Chronicle. AND Patea-Rangitikei Advertiser "NULLA DIES SINE LINEA." FRIDAY, DECEMBER 3. 1897. ORCHARD AND GARDEN PESTS.

The Bill to check diseases affecting orchards and gardens, introduced by the Minister of Lands, is intended to replace the Act of 1896 bearing the same title. The object of the Bill is to prevent or eradicate American Blight, apple scab, codlin moth, and vine louse, with power to include other diseases. Most owners of orchards or gardens are only too anxious to be relieved from these pests, and will gladly welcome any legislation which will assist them in that direction, if it can be shown that there is any prospect of its being "beneficial. The Bill contains the inevitable px'ovisions for inspection and the customary penalties not exdeedißg £50. We do not think that there is mncb in the Bill to which any serious objection can be made, unless it be that inspection to be of any use must be efficient and systematic, and that to insure thja Inspectors must be numerous, bkilled, and adequately remunerated. If the owners of orchards or

I ecardens were at all anxious to harbour pests, instead of being directly interested in getting rid of them afc any cost, the Bill might be a very useful one, but as it is vre fail to see any necessity for it. One good feature about the Bill is that it will be very difficult to obtain convictions under it, inasmuch as the Inspector who conducts the prosecation must always estsblish that any offences have been committed knowingly ; a man need only plead ignorance to evade all penalties. There is a vagueness about the provisions for inspection which is to say the least unsatisfactory, all hat can be known from the Bill is that " inspectors " and " other officers " are contemplated, but the number of officials and the expense to which the country will be put are details of too little importance to be referred to. There are many things which are highly undesirable which cannot be remedied by legislative enactments ; orchard and garden pests like rats, mice, fleas, and other vermin, come nnder this category ; if people will not do their best to get rid of them on their own account, it will be difficult matter to move them by any system of inspection, however elaborate. We think that Bills of the class we have been referring to are generally of little actual value ; they are costly out of all proportion to their usefulness ; they either remain a dead letter or else their action is harsh and capricious, and much irritation is felt by those who are brought under its provisions. Mr McKenzie's intention is laudable; there is nothing to be urged against the object of the Bill, but the question is-whether that object could not be better obtained by other and simpler methods. Fruit growers want practical help and advice, not inspection with all its attendant expense and worry. Information might be afforded to all orchadists and fruits growers, by means of illustrated leaflets, containing specfic instructions as to the causes, nature, means of detection, and treatment of f rnit diseases; with such information universally available the spread of fruit disease would be checked. If any one by culpable neglect causes any injury to a neighbours property, the common law would suffice to meet the demands of justice, no special Act is necessary. There are worse pests in Mow Zealand, than those which infest gardens and orchards, foromost amongst which we would place, the great and eyer increasing army of Government Inspectors.