THE FRUIT FLY.

Auckland Star, Volume LII, Issue 172, 21 July 1921, Page 4

THE FRUIT FLY.

RESTRICTION OF IMPORTS. j Recenlly a consignment of mandarins valued at £SOO was rejected at Auckland ami taken out to sea and dumped overboard, as it was not accompanied by a oertificato from the country of origin that no fruit fly existed within a radius of a mile from where the' fruit was grown. It was stated then that this step was unnecessary, it being contended I bat the climatic conditions of New Zealand preclude the possibility of fruit-fly becoming established here. | The Director of the Horticultural Divi- ! f-ion of the New Zealand Department of j Agriculture, in a. report on the subject, asserts that several outbreak:, of fruit fly I have occurred in New Zealand, and on | two occasions, one at Blenheim ?nd one a! Napier, the fly was found to have wintered over and attacked fruit in these localities the following season. The isolation of these areas and the complete destruction of all fruit within a certain radius resulted in the complete destruction of the fly. In spite of the care now exercised fruit fly appeared in five small peach orchards in Dargaville last year, and every care will have to be taken in that locality during the coming season with a view to its eradication. The above facts, coupled with what appears to be authentic statements that fruit fly has become established in Tasmania, he regards as sufficient, to warrant tiie enforcement, of stringent regulations against this pest entering New Zealand. The director refers to tentative arrangements being made with the Fijian authorities, which he hopes will result in Fijian fruit coming into New Zealand, and he justifies all that New Zealand has done in the past in the way of exclusion of affected fruits by quoting the action of Hawaiian authorities. "I might further point out." he says, "that the authorities of the Hawaiian Islands, despite the fact that Truit fly is present in the islands, absolutely prohibit the introduction of any class of fruit from countries where fruit fly exists, and further were prevailed to remove the embargo against New Zealand fruits ' only on an assurance that fruit fly did not exist within New Zealand, and then only on condition that all fruit dipped should be covered by a certificate declaring that no form of fruit fly was known to exist within New Zealand, and that the fruit in question had not a" any time, even in transit, come into contact with fruit grown in Australia."