TO STRAFE THE FLYING FOX

Evening Post, Volume XCIX, Issue 70, 23 March 1920, Page 8

TO STRAFE THE FLYING FOX

NEW USE FOR FLAME PRO. JECTORS. *

(JSOM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT.)

. SYDNEY, 16th March.The flying fox is one of the curses that New Zealand does not know. It is a huge, obscene, highly odorous bat, which conies from its lairs at nightfall and preys on the fruit crops. It is never seen in daylight. There are thousands of them about Sydney—they may be heard screeching and fighting among the Moreton Bay figs'in the domain on any summer nights-yet not one person in a thousand lias seen. them, i It is a mystery where, they hide. ;. The flying foxes doienormous damage to the banana crops in Northern NewSouth Wales and , Queensland, and all' sorts of plans have'been made for wiping them out. But they are hard to deal with. In these regions, they spend the days in great camp's—generally some isolated, bit of woodland—and the smell of them spreads over the whole countryside. One may fire a few shots into them, with good results, but the majority escape into the bush. Now, however, the Queensland Department of Agriculture promises deadly execution. The officials have secured, through the British War Office, six of the flame-throwers to,, which the ingenious Hun introduced us during the war. They each weigh 561b. and they use a. mixture of kerosene, petrol, and heavy oil,, ignited by a torch;fired by a portable electric battery. They were tested yesterday in Brisbane, on the river bank, and they easily threw a fierce flame a distance"of 120 feet. ..-The officials.were satisfied that they would serve excellently to wipe out animal pests. There is a, great camp of flying foxes near Eudlo. and a trial of the flame-throwers will probably be made there. The camp will be attacked from all sides simultaneously, so that the pests may not readily escape. After that, other camps will be wiped out. It ought jto be a simple matter in ordinary woodfed country, but the camps in the swampy places, among thick mangroves, will be more difficult to deal with. . ;•■'