DESIRABLE LEGISLATION.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XL, Issue 7713, 5 December 1903, Page 4

DESIRABLE LEGISLATION.

The Orchard and Garden Pests Act, which was passed during the session -just closed, should be of great assistance to the fruit growing industry. The colony has been badly in need of legislation to compel orchardists to keep their trees free from pests and also to prevent the importationoffruitdiseasesfromtheCook Islands. The greatest sinners in the matter of unclean orchards are the Aucklanders. It has been found impossible to sell clean fruit in Auckland at a reasonable figure owing to the quantity of infected fruit offered to the public. Hundreds of tons of infected fruit have been allowed to go on the Auckland market, and those in a position to know state that under present conditions an appleorchard in the northern district is not worth having. Clean fruit, grown in the inland districts, will, not pay the expense of getting it to the Auckland market, and it can therefore be understood that the industry has been seriously retarded. The man who allows his orchard to become a breeding ground for pest 3 and sends infected fruit to auction rooms and other places for ( sale deserves to be punished, because while this state of things is permitted it will be impossible to develop the fruit industry to the extent desired. If the , provisions of the Orchard and Garden Pests Act are properly administered the owners of infeoted orchards will find it advisable to keep their trees free from pests, and the result will be that the fruit growing industry will receive an impetus in all parts of the colony. .