CATCHING FLIES

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 40, 16 February 1945, Page 4

CATCHING FLIES

TRAPPING ADVISED

"BLUE DOES NOT REPEL"

Flies are not allergic to blue, or to any other colour. Such is the emphatic conclusion come to by Mr. D. A. Cole, of Mt. Eden, who has experimented with colours. To show how confident ne is that there is nothing in the coloiir theory, he mentions that be has a Ay trap, to which are. attracted thousands of flies a day—and the trap is painted blue! Mr Cole says that as officer commanding the Ist Field Heavy Gun Unit he had plenty of scope for experimenting, and he continues experimenting at his own home. He has made various types of blue fly papers, coloured strings, traps and methods of catching and trapping flies and he knows that anyone who puts faith in blue colours, or any other colour, to repel flies is doomed to disappointment. "Colours do not mean a thing to flies," Mr. Cole says. AH a tiy considers is food and a good envnonment to lay its eggs. "There is only one remedy. As it is impossible to stop all breeding, especially in country and beach areas, they must be trapped. Threepence worth of fish in a trap per week is worth all the blue colour in the country. Attract them away from the house, not by tiymg to repel them with useless methods, but by bait, appetising to them but not enough to be offensive to anyone within two feet of the trap. "The fly ought to be caught in this manner, through a. # na.tion-wid6 effort, if New Zealand is not to become as bad as Australia is said_ to be, that is, if parts of the Dominion are not as bad already. "As for livestock, instead of painting sheep blue or using various other laborious methods to prevent fly strike, half a dozen large fly traps on a big run would solve the problem for miles around. This is not a blue tale, but a fact."