GORSE ON HILLSIDE

Press, Volume CI, Issue 29900, 14 August 1962, Page 18

GORSE ON HILLSIDE

Danger Of Spreading (N.Z Press Association) NEW PLYMOUTH, Aug. 12. If something were not done, the whole of North Taranaki and the King Country would become “all gorse.” said Mr H. V. S. Larsen at the monthly meeting of the Clifton County Council at Waitara yesterday. M. Larsen told the council of a hillside in the Uruti valley covered with gorse which was now flowering and which would soon seed the entire valley. There were other areas in the Clifton and Inglewood Counties from which the gorse could spread. He said: “It will go right through up to the King Country.” The chairmaan, Mr L A. Alexander agreed that efforts to control noxious weeds were not successful and that the problem was becoming increasingly difficult. On a recent visit to Dunedin, he had been shocked at the amount of gorse growing within 20 miles of the city, said Mr T. N. Watson. “They’ve got a tremendous problem there and it could become the same here,” he said. Mr G. E. Liddali said a few offenders were not doing anything to control the gorse. If the council announced that it would remove all the noxious weeds from a property and charge the cost to the farmer concerned it would make many owners take action. The council decided to obtain a report before taking action.