BORER IN BUTTONS

Northern Advocate, 21 October 1935, Page 2

BORER IN BUTTONS

NEW PEST DISCOVERED. SYDNEY, October 17. The discovery of borers in certain lines of imported buttons has occasionsome concern in business circles. The buttons in question were made from "a composition, and the borers were similar in type to the timber-boring beetle which has caused much damage to the Australian timber industry. Mr W. W, Froggott, entomologist, to whom- the Retail Traders’ Association, referred the matter for investigation, reported that It was 1 the first record he had of any boring beetles destroying buttons. The beetles were hatched from eggs laid in the'composition material, either when it was soft and plastic or when the finished buttons were hardening. They left no evidence of their presence on the outside OF. the buttons. „ When finally they emerged, they not only gnawed the buttons, but left their eggs in the cavities which they had made in the buttons. The introduction of a fresh timber-boring beetle into Australia, one with omnivorous habits and one which under present conditions would soon be widely distributed over the whole country, was a serious matter and might affect other industries. Mr Froggatt urged that the .matter should be promptly dealt with, even to the total prohibition by the Customs Department of all composition buttons imported from countries known to be the home of such beetles. The Retail Traders’ Association of New South Wales has brought the matter under the notice of the Minister for Customs, with Mr Froggatt’s suggestion for dealing with the pest.