THOUGHTLESS PRANK.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 268, 23 August 1945, Page 6

THOUGHTLESS PRANK.

TAGS TAKEN OFF BAGS OF SEED. CHILDREN IN GRAIN STORE. Serious consequences could well follow the activities of children who, while playing in a grain store in Ashburton, took a fancy to the red tags on sacks of certified grass seed. Those tags are placed on the sacks by officials of the Department of Agriculture to identify tire seed, and are a guarantee of quality. Once the tags are removed the seed completely loses its identity. Fortunately, so far as the incident in Ashburton is concerned, the activities of the children were discovered before there was any danger of this occurring. It is the intention of the management of the store to take the matter further, however, .to ensure that there is no recurrence. The deterioration in value of sacks of seeds of various types caused by the removal of tags could easily become serious where the more valuable seed is concerned. For example, certain types would be reduced in value from £35 a stick to about £8; and the reductions would be even more drastic if certain types of clover seed, valued at up to £BO a sack, were involved. If the activities .of the children were allowed to continue, seed of this kind would not be safe—and there is'plenty of it in the store concerned. Besides removing tags, the children have damaged some sacks to such an extent that seed is escaping. Others have been marked with chalk or crayon. An aspect, that perhaps escapes children, and probably their parents as well, is that activities of this nature could result in a fatal accident. To get the tags, the children have climbed over stacks of bagged seed over 20 feet high, and a fatal fall could easilv oceur. In addition, the damaged sacks (usually near the bottom of the stack) cause a sagging tendency in the entire stack. It is not difficult to imagine the possible consequences of children climbing over stacks of bagged seed in these circumstances — the sacks average up to 2001 b each. TJTie consequences for the children themselves, or for the staff of the shed, could be serious in .the extreme.