NO SPRAY IN WORKS

Press, Volume C, Issue 29508, 9 May 1961, Page 18

NO SPRAY IN WORKS

Department’s Ruling

"The Press- Special Service AUCKLAND, May 8. The Department of Agriculture has ordered that fly sprays shall not be used in future inside New Zealand freezing works. Mr A. G. Brash, livestock superintendent of the department in Auckland, said he had received this notification from head office in Wellington.

"The emphasis in future,” said Mr Brash, "will be on attacking flies at their source. The spraying will be done on the outside well away from meat or stock. “The whole matter of insecticides will receive a thorough investigation now because on the American market even a trace is sufficient for meat to be rejected.” Mr Brash said that since the advice that America had impounded a shipment of New Zealand meat he had checked with the freezing works to see what type of sprays were being used. He had also told livestock instructors to ask farmers how much insecticide was being used on their properties. The Director-General of Agriculture (Mr P. W. Smallfield) said he knew which works some of the meat came from but he could not disclose the name because other works might be involved. “The only information we have from the United States at present is that the affected meat is from the North Island.” said Mr Smallfield “We know nothing definite yet so that to say anything is just speculation.”