WHITE ANTS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 35, 11 February 1939, Page 10

WHITE ANTS.

FURTHER DAMAGE.

. TIMBER EATEN AWAY. A SERIOUS POSITION. Further evidence of the seriousness of the white ant, or termite, position in Auckland was given to-day, when workmen were busy in the One Tree Hill district sealing up a house preparatory to treating the timber in it and gassing the insects.

Strips of paper were used to block cracks and crevices and were even run over the roofing iron to ensure effective fumigation of the property.

The latest house in which termites in their millions have been discovered is only about six chains away from another which recently was found to be riddled with them, and it is estimated that in this case over £300 worth of damage has been done. Practically every room in the kauri building has been affected, and even the weatherboards have been eaten into, and in places are bulging. Wall boards have been ripped out in various rooms to reveal the nests of the termites, which are both the subterranean and nonsubterranean species.

Cases of damage to woodwork are coming to light weekly, publicity given to the new menace ill New Zealand apparently inducing property-owners to inspect their buildings for traces of the pest. The attention of local members of Parliament has been drawn to the seriousness of the position, and the entomologist of the Cawthron Institute has identified the variety of white ant which is now so active as the Australian mound-builder Coptotermes lacteus. Multiply Rapidly. The white ant is responsible for millions of pounds worth of damage in Australia, and two years ago it was estimated that in the United States it was causing £11,250,000 of damage annually in 46 States. The ants multiply very rapidly, and it is stated that the female is capable of laying 84,000 eggs daily, and maintaining this rate of breeding for five years. As many as 4000 termites have been found in one cubic foot of. wood. Once started the colony is exceedingly difficult to exterminate for, inch by inch, they .move to a new food supply when the old one is exhausted.

Mr. A. E. Blade, who was supervising the work on the One Tree Hill house this morning, stressed the seriousness of" the position which had developed in the Auckland district in recent years, and counselled propertyowners to take stock of the timbers in, their buildings. Three years ago the house on which he was now concentrating his attention was free of the pests, and yet to-day, he said, practically every room was affected. To emphasise the mehace once more, he added, he proposed to arrange for all the Members of Parliament in the Auckland district to inspect the house on Monday.