CONTROL OF NASSELLA

Press, Volume LXXXIV, Issue 25638, 29 October 1948, Page 8

CONTROL OF NASSELLA

PROBLEM DISCUSSED BY HOUSE (From Our Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON. October 28. An appeal to the Government to subsidise not only nassella boards but farmers who did control work themselves or had it done for them by boards was made by Mr W. H. Gillespie (Opposition, Kurunui) when the second reading of the Nassella Tussock Amendment Bill was debated by the House of Representatives to-day. The Minister of Agriculture (Mr E. L. Cullen) praised the two boards already established- in North Canterbury and Marlborough. Mr Cullen said he was at a loss to know what could be done. The North Canterbury board was groping with the problem, but did not know if the experiments it contemplated would succeed. The board had met with success in the cooperation given by farmers in ploughing in and grubbing on lightly infested areas. By the bill boards could raise money for a programme to cover years ahead instead of one year at a time and loans raised could be levied on constituent councils. Position of Individuals Mr J. K. McAlpine (Opposition, Selwyn): Is the individual farmer not required to find anything? Mr Cullen replied that provision was made for a Government subsidy to boards only on money they spent out of their own funds or on those that were raised by loan. Mr Gillespie asked if the Government would subsidise money collected from individual farmers. Mr Cullen: I don’t think that is covered. Replying to Mr T. P. Shand (Opposition, Marlborough), the Minister said that if a farmer was displaced fdr the purposes of nassella control it would be only fair that he should have another economic unit to go to He should be able to obtain that through the assistance of the Crowh. Mr Cullen said he knew there was some criticism that progress was too slow, but the boards were of such a calibre that he felt sure, with assistance readily given by jConstituent councils and agricultural arid scientific officers, that their programmes would be. of great assistance in preventing the spread of nassella. Mr Gillespie said that things were not quite as happy as the Minister would suggest. There was some opposition to the boards’ work. He had every sympathy with farmers whose farms were badly infested. He still held that nassella was a national responsibility. In 1941 a survey showed 340,000 acres to be infested, but last year’s survey disclosed 840,000 acres. All was not heavily infested, but it would be if nothing was done. He was not sure that they were working fast enough or that they were going to do any good as they were working at present.