FRUIT PEST LAWS

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 286, 27 August 1908, Page 3

FRUIT PEST LAWS

THE ISLANDS AND THE ONE-MILE RULE. AUCKLAND DEALERS PROTEST. The regulation providing that fruit coming to New Zealand from Australia sball be accompanied by a - certificate that the orchards such fruit came from , were not within a milo of any district infected by the fruit-fly is now to be applied to fruit from the Islands (telegraphs our Auckland correspondent). Notico to. this effect has been .received by the Island fruit dealers in. Auckland. This restriction, unless revoked, will come into force next month. The importers ,of Island fruit state that it will have a most disastrous effect upon their trade. They have forwarded a strong protest to the Government, and they assert that no suror method could have been devised of entirely diverting the Island trade, aud that of Fiji in particular, to Sydney "and Melbourne. There is hop© that even at the eleventh hour tko importers may succeed in getting tho regulation altered so as to permit of a different system, but so far no reply has been" received from tho Government to the protest forwarded. Meantime, at least, one of the largest importers has taken steps to. divert his trade to Sydney. Tho "linlelimit" clause will result in the practical cessation of all Tong;/n and Fijian trade vritla Auckland (say the dealers), and where the fruit is sold there tho traders do their; general business; so that the regulation will .mean a very serious blow to Auckland. From'Rarotonga, out of 129,000 cases ■ of oranges brought here in twelve months only 73 cases were found to be infected. Where the infected area is no one in,Rarotonga has ever • been able to find out, and' those • importers who deal in Rarotonga fruit ask why such a regulation' be enforced when it is apparent that an inspector at Rarotonga snould be able to pass consignments. l v " If-tho Government febls'that thero is the necessity for theso precautions," said one importer,' "why not have one officer, in Nukualofa (in Tonga), one at Avarua (in Raro \tonga), and one at Suva (in Fiji), to grade knd inspect the fruit; for the mile-limit condition is simply unworkable. How. can; the Government enforce the condition anyhow?; Nihe-teriths of the natives who would be re-, quiied to fill in tho certificates:can;neither readvnor write, and anyone can tell you that the Wives would declare the ■ fruit came from beyond an infected, area whether it did or not\ The whole matter is attributable to' one soiree in tho Department — an officer who really doesn't understand the business. Wore the matter left to the Auckland officers, of the Department—men who do thoroughly know the 'whole thing from beginning to end —tho fruit importers would have the utmost confidence,in whatever those officers .directed to be done." .' ■

"Had. the; late-Mr. Seddon lived to return to Now Zealand," said another, " these regulations would ,not be troubling us, and thero i would have been a very different state of affairs from what there is to-day; for 1 he had been made fully aware of the whole undercurrent of this business, and knew what should be done, and had expressed his intention of doing it as soon' as he_ got back from Australia. The mile limit is an absurd idea, created without a proper knowledge; The dealers'are as anxious} as anyone else not "to ■ risk bringing /in infection l to I the orchards of this-country," and would 'gladly and willingly'obey 'any reasonable arid proper precautionary rules ; but for the Department'to arbitrarily ruin our trade in this fashion is enough to make one's blood boil." [The regulations:) have jit applied" to > the Islands -ever since they were passed at tho time.last season when Australian grapes were first. • admitted to 'New\ Zealand: : But • the islanders woro given longer grace than tho Australians to learn of their existence. They are now to bo enforced.' Tho arguments 'of tho Auckland importers somewhat resemble th,ose of the Australians, who urged that an Australian, certificate of freedom from.pest on embarkation ought to suffice. This argument has already been disposed of by tho explanation that infection may bo undetectable on departure, but ■ develop into active larvae on the way over. No inspector living can with certainty discover every sting mark of the fruit-fly when 'it is first - made, .but at those sting marks the dreaded maggots develop. Even the inspectors in New Zealand cannot guarantee the absolute safety of the fruit they pass, as shown the fact that there have been two separate outbreaks' of fruit-fly in Now Zealand in three districts in the last three or four, years from imported fruit. 1 As to tho incipient nature of; tho existence of tho pest in tho Islands, tho Department lias resolved to establish a New Zealand expert in the Islands to locate) and if possible totally eradicate, the fruit-fly. The lllit-erateriess-of the natives would not prevent tho filling in of the required certificate, because that has to be done by a responsible official.] ' |