FRUIT FLY CATCHERS.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 69, 14 December 1907, Page 3

FRUIT FLY CATCHERS.

■n*£ivv H °WTHEY;WORK., , , .;': ;N : h6uß'lN AfIARBOUR BOARD SHED. 'A.xppdy/ smell .pervaded' the air. .;'.Cases; ' ( .i-tatT tiersof all : sorts of. merchandise, rose y ' tp'',ori'eyery r and'on- th'e'iloor, .bananas galore-Trgjeen.'Or^yellow/squashed •formed.a' treacherous.'.carpet through which you were, wise to pick your way gingerly. It was a Harbour Board.shed—and it..was inspection time'..' The.'fearful fruit-fly was'.sup-. .pJssg,d';to',be'lurking ;m' those ; bananas,and a posse ■' ofv officials' was therefore endeavouring to .avert the. attack. ;».The man : apparently of chief importance, in. this knot of workers'was. an, individual in shirt, sleeves..and straw cuff man on' hands and knees. On a'coarse piece of. sacking a', case ' full'-of bananas is emptied out before-him, and as h£, stpops over them and draws them one by one towards him, you: are attracted by his apparently strange behaviour—his .iiricanny silence, his' grim,--'plodding persistence, his penetrating scrutiny of- this uninteresting green;,;fr.uit.: .What,is,Jie after?.- He is. the fruit'inspector. He is the man by whom the friuit -importers are.'.'.chastised. with "whips " in, order.that'.our fruit -growers shall not. be' ohastise'd later '.with- scorpions in the •shape' of' the dreaded; omnivorous, unconquerable friiitfly.vHe is the slender thread' on whom the safety of New Zealand's great fruit-industry hangs—the man; who has saved- our orchards! from the pest.that has'nii'ned two Australian 1 States.: • •His staff ? .He has ' none. The men . who wrench off-the : tops-'of cases and tumble out the contents, and stfow the floor with-fruit and ;who re-pack.the cases after' the scrutiny is oyer, are Harbour, Board :servants*, paid' from.the'.fees that fruit importers'contribute The inspector himself, nn officer'of the Horticultural Division; has a soul above fees. Ho woAs .for the'.good of a .grateful, country, and .whether : he-, works eight or. , eighteen hours, a dream's.are not "of 'overtime' rates,';-for ; _he - ; is 'entitled to none; • ■"■He /is a most'i elastic individual in the amount of work ?he-can-perform. He might-"take'it-out : leisurely in his spare hours, were it not for.the fact' that, proverbially', civil servants and ■ spare, hours are jitter sffang'ersr.to nacli other;'. •':■ , : :.-' ■' ''.;•.' v: ■■ .-■ •■ •.--..••

■He has,.no control;;,over the ' men who' 1 hanclle the cases. .No doubt his.departmental instinct would rouse him into a frenzy, if he saw ffnit'wantdnly damaged, but: His protest; twugh_ influential,' ii quite ' gratuitous; , Methods of handling: are.just what-'the"im-porters ; themselves -and • tHeir Harbour Board assistants'choose to.-adopt. The inspector merely, says:' "None of. this fruit must.leave the wharf .until'! have/examined a portion of Jt" 'Here; I' am- at : your service."' ' He is' always glad to fall in.with any proposals' to'facilitate or expedite, delivery. Under a'present rule, .set up'by the importers themselves, each takes, his proper turn as.to whose consignment shall be- first examined. The" man- who is first to : day will. be.last to-mor-row., Ibe r inspecting is done in "rounds.',' In..tho;.first round each importer gets sovdn' minutes of tho inspector's time. This enables each to get delivery of a portion of his consignments "to go on with," and in'the subsequent •"rounds'! the turns occupy ton minutes. Seven minutes are sufficient for the examination of a small line—a line" of say, one hnndrcd cases, of'which the inspector .may want to examine; six. If the line is/a- large ono it will remain to be finished at the/second round 1 ; and no-delivery of it takes place in the meantime. . . " There; arc several good reasons why importers should obtain their consignments' in small'lines. 'There is the question of expo-' dijious .delivery.. There is tho still, bigger question of the'risk of condemnation which' a large consignment runs. If a shipment' of 12,000 cases came in ono line,- and one solitary fruit in it contained frliit-fiy maggots 12,000 cases would have to go'up the'destructor chimney in smoke. But if the consignment were subdivided' into-120 lines, of' 100 cases.each, then tho one, infected fruit wbiild' condemn only 100 cases;. New Zealand's system depends for its''efficacy on the great law of averages—,-'and Providence. It is. hoped,that if,.say.,five:or.six cases, in a hundred :.are,clean,; the.other 94 0r,90 will be\ clean also. The reverse is assumed to "hold

true. . If the five or six ■ are infected, the balance are possibly infected also,,and; they iare condemned, and cremated without further .'trial and witlr apologies to'no ono. :■• "■ Tho work of: inspection "looks" easy," but it .must;, bo indescribably tedious, {and the huge stake at,'..issue .necessitates' that, the 'men .enjpldyed.shall lie reliable. The process ilias metlibd'in'it.' The inspector's eyes-nre :oii the alert for the ripe fruit, .fophe knows that the,frail little •fruit-fly does not waste .his strength trying to boro egg-holes' in hard, green fruit,: but selects what' is ripe and soft.: The ripe, fruits are therefore.'the 'criterion, of the .whole, 'package. ; . The .in-' ■.spector, scrutinises the ripe bananas closely, and when a soft-ended' one appears he cuts •it open ' with a pocket-knife, -and--searches ; for the-familiar maggots. If no,maggot ■wriggles forth to. respond- to -the. probing, there is. joy in the heart., of the, importer, for he has his supply safely on, the market, and still greater joy for the grower 'across the 'water,'; for there will be'a' cheque for him later on. ,Bnt. n'eradvenf.nre. the-fruit-maggot' is, at home, and. wriggles his qiieer, .pointed; black-tipped head out through the pulpy -fruit, to resent the -intrusion:' Then there is excitement.in the shed, and a load for' the destructor, and importers .wait in suspense-for ..the future' verdicts'. The inspector's task is not enviable. His posture must be'tiring. His downward-hung face, must.become congested with blood,-his eyes dizr.y. his liver sluggish. Wo don't envy him his "job." It is worth-a pound' a day—and overtime.