SALE OF BLACKBERRIES

Hokitika Guardian, 24 March 1931, Page 5

SALE OF BLACKBERRIES

ATTITUDE OF DEPARTMENT. WELLINGTON. March 21. Very strictly speaking, under the Noxious Weeds Act, it is illegal to sell blackberries. Yet at this time of year they can he seen exposed for sale in many fruiterers’ shops, and the heavy hand of the law does not descend upon the vendors. An official in the department stated that the selling of blackberries was winked at, though illegal, It waft realised that the domestic utilisation of the berrieg for the making of jam, jelly, puddings, or tarts was a lesser menace, than allowing the berries to ripen on the hushes to be broadcast subsequently by birds or other agencies. There was small risk of the spread of the curse through the sale of the berries. At the present time some of the unemployed living in or near districts where blackberries abound are keeping the wolf quite a perceptible distance from the door by picking and selling the berries, and many a housewife is quite pleased to purchase the fruit and to he saved the trouble of going out into the country to pick.it. In view of the circumstances prevailing at present, now- is -not the ' time that the department would select 'for enforcing the strict letter of the law, if ever it does, as regards the sale ofblackberries— perhaps the most noxious of all noxious weeds spoiling the Dominion’s countryside.