ANTI-CODLIN CRUSADE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLI, Issue 8543, 25 March 1908, Page 8

ANTI-CODLIN CRUSADE.

LITTLE RESULT EXCEPT DEAR

FRUIT.

AUCKLAND, Match 24. A pessimistic view is taken by a, Riverhead fruit-grower (Mr Marsh) of the efforts to fight the codlin nvoth. The following correspondence on the Orchard and Garden Pests Act has taken place between that gentleman and Mr Massey, M.P., Leader of the Opposition. Mr Marsh wrote: — " When the Act was made law the country was even then swarming with codlin moth, so it was practically use- , less from the start. It was at that time imagined by experts that the moth could bo stamped out by drastic treatment. Now, from a iifelong study of the subject, I come to the following conclusions: —This villainous insect not only lives in the orchards, but breeds in bush trees, in scrub, i* j tufts of grass, in hedges, in rubbish ; heaps—is übiquitous, in fact. If a j thousand tons of moth or maggots' of the moth were dumped down among us, not one more fruit would be affect'ed on that account. It is admitted' that if a settler neglected his orchard entirely ho will get few sound apples or pears. If, however, he goes through all the formula of the Government officials, he perhaps may save some, but is simply losing money by the cost of labour. Every man, therefore, does the best he can under the circumstances and conditions containing. This Act causes everyone in the community to suffer, since fruit is so enormously dear. The grower is not the greatest sufferer; it is the fruitloving public on whom the loss actually falls." In reply, Mr MasSey writes:—"l agree almost entirely with the opinions you have expressed. The Agricultural Department has itself tried to keep an orchard clean of codlin moth, and has failed ; and, until the remedy is discovered, legislation such as we have in our Statute' Book is worse than useles.. It is harassing to the settler, and is making fruit dearer to the consumer. I- am watching anxiously to see whether the insects which have been introduced will bo any more effective than the other remedies which finve been tried."