RHINOCEROS BEETLE,

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 74, 27 March 1923, Page 4

RHINOCEROS BEETLE,

A PEST IX SAMOA.

"To the Agricultural Department faft the responsibility for controlling «» rhinoceros beetle, the pest which U BiK" a menace to the cocoanut trees »n<» which, if left unmolested, would very soon destroy the copra industry," Mid Colonel Tate, ex-Administrator of Samoa,

this mornin?. The rhinoceros beetle was introduced into Samoa in the latter part of 1910 ijj boxes containing rubber plants imported from Ceylon parked in soil and vegetable refuse.. "The beetle spread rapidly, and played great havoc -with the cocoan'i* palms. When the pest was first noticed the natives were induced to collect the insects by the offer of rewards for tie beetles they collected, but this system soon had to be abandoned as it proved too severe a drain on the Samoan Treasury. A law was then introduced requiring all able-bodied natives to search for beetle?. A weekly quota was fixed for each village (according to the severity of the pest or otherwise, in the particular locality) and every searcher is required to find 'and hand over beetles, larvae and egjrs to the number specified for each man of his village. By constant effort and careful supervision on the part of the Aprricultural Department, the beetle situation could now be considered as highly satisfactory.