THE FRUIT FLY. DISCOVERED IN AUCKLAND.

Evening Post, Volume LXXV, Issue 26, 31 January 1908, Page 2

THE FRUIT FLY. DISCOVERED IN AUCKLAND.

STRICT PRECAUTIONS TAKEN. [BY TKLECIBAril — MES3 ASSOCIATION.] , AUCKLAND, 30th Jauuaiy. Hitherto > the Auckland provnrco liaj been immune from tho fiuit-tiy pctt which has played such havoc in Auslrallui. This week, however, tho discovery was made that tho Mediterranean fruit-fiy had mado i(3 appearance at Devonport. It v>as reportLo. by a Devonport readout that he bUbpectcd tho maggot of tho fruit-fly in sonio neotannes. Immediato investigation confirmed the suspicion that tho maggot was that <?f the lruit-fly. The infectod area is a garden at Stanley Point. A small nectai'ino tree, loaded with fruit, was found to be infected, the ripe fxuit being impregnated with eggs. A house-to-house inspection was at once made by Mr. Boucher and his assistants, and > it v felt certain that other orchards in the locality are go far exompt. A strict surveillanco ia nevertheless being kept right along tho water frontage, and all orchards ami gardens in the Chelsea, Devonport, Northcoto, and Birkonhead districts will bo under rigid inspection. Tho fruit in ,tho orchard in which the present outbreak is 1 located will bo taken over by tho department. Tho nectarmo tree which is bo largely infested will be treated in a similar manner to those at Napier, tho fruit being; picked as it ripens and destroyed. Every effort will bo made to prevent tho spread of tho pest, and Mr. Boucher 'is hopeful of stamping it out as complotely as ho appears to havo done in Napier. "Thero ia no cause for the least alarm," said Mr. Boucher io a press representative, ''as tho garden in which infection has been discovered is almost ipolated from tho largo residential suburb of Devonpoit, And theie nro no orchards of any extent within n distance of some miles. The few fruit trees in tho immediate vicinity may «how infection, but the isolation of the locality generally from a fruit-growing standpoint will probably enable tho infection to be confined to that particular locality."