BEES IN BENZINE BOX.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 28, 2 February 1928, Page 22

BEES IN BENZINE BOX.

CONTRARY TO REGULATION.

DANGER OF INFECTION.

(By Telegraph.—Presa Association.)

WELLINGTON, Wednesday.

Described by the inspector of apiaries as a "pirate" beekeeper, Norman Barnes Gibbons was fined £2 at Lower Hutt to-day for keeping bees in a benzine box. The inspector explained that the Act laid down that bees must be kept in boxes with readily movable frames, this being for the purpose of inspection. Bees kept in boxes usually became infected with disease. The bees died out, and the boxes were robbed by bees from neighbouring apiaries. Thus one discarded box might be the means of infecting hundreds of other colonies.

Beekeepinp in New Zealand was one of the growing primary industries, and honey was being exported to all parts of the world in quantities up to 500 tons, showing that although a comparatively new industry in the Dominion it was of considerable financial value to exporters, said the inspector. New Zealand honey commanded a higher price than honey from any other part of the world. This was due to the fact that no honey was allowed to leave the country until it had been graded by the Government honey graders.

The magistrate fined John Martin Baigent £2 for a similar offence.