FRUIT PESTS.

Akaroa Mail and Banks Peninsula Advertiser, Volume LIII, Issue 2805, 18 September 1903, Page 2

FRUIT PESTS.

The following extract from "Hansard" should prove of great interest to all frnife growers, as showing that a striot supervision of orchards will be instituted, and those having pest ridden fruit will be obliged to find some remedy or lose their orchards :— " Mr Taylor (Christchurch City) asked tho Colonial Secretary, whether, seeing that imported fruit only slightly affected by oodlin moth or other fruit blight ia oondemned, to the loss of the trader and the general publio. whilst blight infeoeed fruit grown lo New Zealand is freely distributed throughout the Colony, he will so amend existing legislation as to render uniform the treat' ment of all infected fruit ? He had bad oor' respondenoe from a number of fruit growers in Canterbury asking him to put this ones' tion, lb appeared that fruit arriving from outside the colony infected with the codlin moth was liable to be destroyed, and was destroyed in considerable quantities by the Government anthorities, with the result that the volume of fruit available for publio consumption was reduced, and expense was inflicted upon the importer. Nevertheless, fruit infected with the moth came to the south from Auckland and other parts of the Colony simply perforated with the moth. The blight was carried about as between New Zealand orchards without any restrio* tion, and the sonthern orchards, which were practically clear of the pe*t, were always liable to infection. The Canterbury frnit growers fe t that cither the restriction mv posed upon imported fruit should be removed or they should also be imposedd upon New Zealand fruit that came from an infected district. He thought he had given the Minister all the information that was neoes* sary to enable him to answer the question but he dared say tbat the answer would be unsatisfactory.

The Hon. Mr Duncan, Minister for Agri* culture, said he waß going to give the hon' ourable gentleman a satisfactory answer, as he always gave satisfactory answers, He had a Bill now before the Agricultural and Stock Committee to deal with this very matter, ard he expected the honourable gentleman to arjsißt him in jetting it through the House, He hoped it would be possible to restrict the spread of the pest—the codlin moth—which would otherwise atop people from venturing into the fruit growing indus try anywhere, The Bill had beeD read a second time, and he hoped to have it baok from the Committee within a week. If it became law it would deal with the matter satisfactorily to all concerned. He hoped that would satisfy the honourable gentle* man.

Mr Taylor said he was more than satisfied with the answer."