WEEDS ON HILL COUNTRY.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 109, 8 April 1936, Page 16

WEEDS ON HILL COUNTRY.

KAIRANGA COUNTY AFFECTED. Complaints as to the spread of noxious weeds in certain areas of the Kairanga County were contained in a letter from Mr R. Wall which came before the monthly meeting of the council yesterday. The writer stated that along No. 4 Line gorse, blackberry, and oxeye daisy were growing on the roadside, and in ithe high sheep countiy between the Tiritea dam and the Tokomani Stream there was ragwdrt in scattered places all over the hills, and in the beds of streams. On a, back country road a blackberry bush was spreading and these weeds might take possession, making the district like the West Coast of the South Island. A letter was also to hand from Mr H. R. Denize, inspector of stock of the Department of Agriculture, as the result of the sending of a copy of the former letter to him. Mr Denize stated that he was in agreement with Mr Wall in regard to ragwort, and, if the problem was not attacked in a firm manner, the weed would spread rapidly. Everything possible was being done with the staff at their disposal, but unfortunately it was not possible for one person to attend to the •noxious weeds problem and other pressing matters in the district. The writer regretted to state that it had become necessary to prosecute a number of settlers for ’failing to destroy ragwort. The complaint, however, would be looked into as soon as possible. The engineer (Mr L. C. Pickering) remarked that he could point out dozens of properties on which there were' noxious weeds.

Cr. J. Batchelar remarked that it was not fair to the farmers in the lower country if ragwort grew on- high land, as streams carried the seeds on to the lower levels. Gorse formed a blaze of yellow in the Kahuterawa Valley in season, said the engineer. Remarks were made by several councillors that greater activity should be shown in inspection work by the department, but Or. T. D. Lynch said that an inspector had been working north from Levin. The subject- was not discussed further, Cr. Batchelar saying that the department was evidently moving in the matter. At a later stage a special meeting was heid at which a special order, proclaiming broom, fennell, foxglove, wild turnip, and prickly pear as noxious weeds in the county, was confirmed.