CONTROL OF NOXIOUS WEEDS

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 140, 10 March 1938, Page 15

CONTROL OF NOXIOUS WEEDS

Little Support For County Administration Of Act Dominion Special Service. Wanganui, March 9. Considerable opposition to the suggestion that county should take over the administration of the Noxious Weeds Act was raised to-day when a conference convened by the Wanganui provincial executive of the New Zealand Farmers’ Union was held at Wanganui. Wanganui, Rangitikei, Waitotara, Waimarino and Patea counties were represented and delegates from rabbit boards and dairy factories in the district also attended. The opinion was freely expressed that the noxious weed menace should be controlled by some national scheme and several speakers emphasised the problems caused by Native and Crown lands, particularly those which had been abandoned where ragwort and other weeds had a firm hold. Several motions went before the meeting, and Mr. W. J. B. Tripe’s suggestion that county councils should administer the Act received little support. On the motion of Mr. R. Farley the conference agreed to recommend that the Department of Agriculture should continue to control noxious weeds with the co-operation of counties.