WHITE ANT THREAT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 19, 22 July 1939, Page 26

WHITE ANT THREAT

DIFFICULT TO CHECK

White ants, brought to New Zealand in imported timber-, offer a serious threat to wooden buildings in both islands, said Dr. D. Miller,, of the Cawthron Institute, in an address to members of the New Zealand Institute of Valuers on Thursday night. The lecture was entitled "The Sequence of Insects in the Deterioration of Timber" and slides were shown illustrating the attacks made by insects on timber from the sap-sucker on the growing tree to the common house borer in the aged and matured wood. The life history and method of attack of several parasites, which have been introduced to check the activities of the borer, were also illustrated. In one instance the parasite has proved its efficacy in checking the borer which attacks pinus insignus plantations. - Dr. Miller referred to the ravages of the white ant in Auckland and New Plymouth and predicted that this insect would cause severe losses to property if not checked. In one instance a house only five years old in Auckland had been reduced to pulp, and- as these insects might nest at some distance from the house, making their wayunderground to attack the structure, it would be very difficult to check them. The invariable habit of New Zealanders of storing old wood, junk, and firewood in the basement or under the floor of houses was. deprecated by the speaker who said that this provided breeding grounds for all kinds of pests, including ' boring insects.. Basements, yards, and'gardens should be kept clean and clear of old and decaying timber if the structure adjoining was to be kept immune. The question of whether the white ant was an immigrant from Australia who came to this country without a passport seemed to be well established, said Dr. Miller.