Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1897. ORCHARD AND GARDEN PESTS DILL.

Ashburton Guardian, Issue 4361, 2 December 1897, Page 2

Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, DECEMBER 2, 1897. ORCHARD AND GARDEN PESTS DILL.

The many farmers and residents generally in the Ashburton county who have a few fruit trees growing oh their farms and gardens, will not thank the Hon, John McKenzie for introducing his Orchard and Garden Pests Bill. Still less will they be anxious to see it pass. "We have no idea that }t wi}l pass this session, for we oannot realise tbat in the form in which the hon. gentleman hag introduced it to the House, a body of thinking men, themselves (many of them) no doubt owning patches of land carrying apple trees, will consent to force so drastic a measure on thts people. A modified measure may be acceptable, but as the Bill stands now, it certaiply is not, Nobody will object to provision being made foy thp exclusion' of plants diseased, bui when the schedule contains only four diseases, and the Bill provides that any inspector to be appointed under it may pnjfcer upon pop's ground and order the destruction of "onefi trees, or their treatment in such manner as he may prescribe, at the expense of the owner, Government interfereace goes a little too far. Bill provides, as usual, fo.r php appointment of inspectors— the polony wijl soon be under the tfcumb of an army of in-spjeptors-^and shoulcj ft at any time appear $0 the jlnapegtojr fftbaf; anj deseaae exists, pr j^as within fchyee months preceding existed, in any orchard, or amongst the plants there v ■'.'■ --nd th9t in order to eradigrowmg, Q( auch cute or prevent the sprt^. disease, such orchard should be deplar/ad to be infected, he shall notify the fa,ot to the occupier of such orchard, and. al»0 to tb» Minister^ whereupp the

following provisions shall apply." And I those provisions include publication in I the Gazette of notice declaring the 5 orchard to he an infected place, such 1 notice to describe " with reasonable • particularity the situation and area of) the orchard " j and from the date of the notice " no plants or fruit shall be removed except under the direction of an inspector, and within which (orchard) the occupier shall do all such things as are necessary, or as the inspector deems necessary in order to eradicate or check the spread of the disease." The inspector is invested with very large powers. He oan enter at any time ant conveyance, or upon any orchard, land, or premises, or on board any vessel, for the purpose of inspecting any plants or fruits, or the packages containing the same, or with which the same may have come in contact, and "shall have all such powers and authorities (including power to dig up plants, open packages, and otherwise) as be deems necessary. . . " If the inspector's orders be not obeyed, the inspector may have them carried out at the expense of the owner, which expense may be recovered as a debt to the Grown. Should the entry of an inspector be resisted by any recalcitrant owner, the inspector or his authorised assistant " may use all necessary force"; and any resistance will be deemed an offence. No compensation own be claimed for any loss sustained by the official aot of the inspector, and for any offence (and six are set out in section 17) the offender may be fined *ny sum up to £50. The Governor by Order in Council gazetted may from time to time make such regulations as he deems necessary :— ) "(1.) For prescribing the oasts and manner in which and the times at which the occupier of an orchard—(a) Shall give notice of his orchard bei&g infected with disease; and (b.) Shall bandage, dress, or otherwise treat infected fruife-treea or other plant* ia his orchard. (2) For prescribing the oases and manner in which and the times at which diseased plantß or fruit and infected package* shall be treated, cleansed, destroyed, or otherwise disposed of. (3 ) And generally prescribing whatever he deems necessary in order to give effect to the objects of this Aot." The single schedule to the Bill contains the list of diseases the Bill deals 1 with, and these are—American blight, tipple scab, codlin moth, and vine-louse (or phylloxera). Of American or ! woolly blight, and the apple scale or -cab, Ashburton town and county has abundance, and we are perfectly safe in saying that of the thousands of trees in this district there is not one perfectly free, so that quite a number of inspectors will be required for this district alone. The Bill ought to be a splendid advertisement for Wheelband's blight specific, which is said to be certain death to the woolly aphis and the scale. Oodlitt moth has not yet made its appearance to any extent, and the county is not celebrated for grape growing. There are many people who ! believe that the two pests best known I here die out of their own accord, and 1 tn some cases they are justified ia the ■ belief.' But whatever belief about it they may hold, after the Bill has passed, if it ever does, they «'i!l have to believe what the inspector believes, or be fined for their contumacy. The Bill will make openings for a number of men ss inspectors, and as in the case of some other departments we wot of, it is not a sine qua non that gentlemen appointed should be \ ast masters in the matter of knowledge and skill.