THE Kawhia Settler And RAGLAN ADVERTISER Friday, October 10, 1924 THE BLACKBERRY PEST

Kawhia Settler and Raglan Advertiser, Volume XXIII, Issue 1237, 10 October 1924, Page 2

THE Kawhia Settler And RAGLAN ADVERTISER Friday, October 10, 1924 THE BLACKBERRY PEST

ON frequent occasions during his term of office, the Minister of Agriculture has displayed a commendable vigour in dealing with problems affecting the farming world, and he has again shown that he has formed an accurate conception of one of the gravest dangers threatening the agricultural and pastoral lands of the Dominion. By offering the substantial reward of £lO,OOO for a successful and effective method of eradicating the blackberry, the Minister at once recognises the magnitude of the menace, and appreciates the fact that it is only by practical and scientific investigation that an effectual remedy can be determined. In inviting the cp-opsrejtion of active outside research, many precedents pq.n be pointed to where, by the intro, duction of natural enemies, or by scientific means, both animal and vegetable pests have been checked and successfully controlled, and there is no reason to doubt possibilities in the present instance. r enprgetip measures are

necessary to deal with noxious weeds may be assumed by' ttie universal protests from individuals and public organisations, alike against the apparent apathy of the Agricultural Department, and by the ocular evidence of everyday observation. More particularly is a more vigorous policy essential at the present juncture

when hundreds of farms all over New Zealand are being abandoned, owing to the failure of the occupiers to earn a livelihood under the depressing conditions of present-day farm-life as compared with the more attractive and remunerative employment offering in the cities It is right here that the Agricultural Department is confronted with its gravest difficulty : to enforce the penal clauses of the Act would immediately cause consequent and additional hardships on the settler, and he would be compelled to forsake his holding, thus adding further areas of unoccupied land to be over-run with the objectionable growths which it was desired to control. Harsh measures would, therefore, only defeat the end in view, and one Minister of the Crown has honestly confessed the extreme poignancy of the problem, when he declared, on a recent visit, that the blackberry pest was one of the most intricate problems puzzling the Department, and the Act had therefore become practically inoperative. In seeking a solution of the difficulty by means of an attempted discovery of a system of eradicating the cause, would indeed be a welcome and satisfactory consummation of the many efforts which have been put forward to accomplish the same end. In the meantime, it is obvious that the pest has to be kept in check and under control to prevent encroachment on further areas, and there should be no slackening in the activities of either individuals or public bodies in their endeavour to prevent a wider distribution and spread of the trouble.