The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1908. REGULATIONS AGAINST FRUIT PESTS.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 7 March 1908, Page 2

The Nelson Evening Mail. SATURDAY, MARCH 7, 1908. REGULATIONS AGAINST FRUIT PESTS.

address, -or .a mark or brand approved by and registered with the .Department of Agriculture in the exporting State, That, all caees used in inter-Stato trade shall be either (a,)' new, or (b).if secondhand, shall have been steamed or dipped in boiling water before being used a second timei. 6' Thai billy clean bags bo used for vegetables. Y. That fruit found to bo .affected . by disease b« .allowed to be sorted, or ,;ssnt ; to jam factories under bond and''alriilg- : ent conditipjHv similar to tliose .in use in thft State- of New South Wales.; If sorted, all rejected fruit to be desu'cyed, and the balance to be sent to the factory, or into distribution at. the option of the Chief Inspector or authorised officer, . « • 8. What every State expoiting fruit, vegetables, or plants shall appoint officers to examine and inspect the same before shipment, and shall give a certificate to the exporter that such fruit vegetables or plants about to bo shipped are fit for export. Such certificate shall be presented with the fruit, vegetables, or plants at the port of eiitrv^anU snail be accepted as f iaf. S,} ..possible ?-.« descriptive bi' its- condition, hut rhall not take away the right- of each State to inspect all such fruit, vegetables, or plants on lancing, and to. reject same if found to be diseased. 10. That with the exception of grape vines, there shall be no restriction in the interchange of nursery stock between the States, subject to the importing State exercising its right to inspect and fumigate the saiQe-. . . . 11. That fib State shall restrict, the spect alt such fruit, vegetables, or plants by rail or roa.S, but jylleheve/r one State, .shall, make, i demand for inspection of same before entry an arftangement shall be made to inspect, fumigate, etc., at a point to be mutually agreed upon, at the. joint expense of the two States concerned. 12. That no State shall make a charge for inspection, on imports which will return more than sufficient to meet the annual expense incurred on account ot such inspection, and that where such charges are now in excess of what is required to meet the annual cost, the State concerned be requested to make the necessary reduction forthwith. In no caee shall th» charge, except for sorting, be more than one penn.y % package or burtchi . ..... 14. That, in making inspection of trttit the side of each 'case.' inipecte'd Shall .be removed, and the fruit inspected as far as is reasonably possible without being tipped out of the case. . 15. That fruit cases bo of such a size as to hold two bushels, one bushel, a half-bushel, and a quarter-bushel, the shapes for the various kinds of fruit to ba fixed by regulation, and to be uniform in nil the States. , 16. All destructive fruit and plant pests legislated against by the various States, with the following exceptions, shall, until otherwise notified, be deemed to be common to all States : — Ked scale (Aspiliotus coccineus), pear slug or leech (Selandria cerasi), San Jose •scale (Aspidiotus perniciosus), fruit flies (Ceratitis and Tephritis), phylloxera (Phyl- I loxcra vastatnx).

INSPECTION IN AUSTRALIA. REGULATIONS more closely approaching uniformity in the treatment of fruit pests on the part of the various State* of the Commonwealth have been adopted by the inter-Sta^e conference of Ministers of Agriculture. * * • » • All fruit, vegetables, and plants cxportsd from one Sate to another will be inspected on their merits, but the inspectors stationed at Sydney by Victoria, and the one now in Victoria sent there by New South Wales, will be withdrawn, each State trusting to th« efficiency and zeaL^gthe other State's inspectors: to be affected by disease will notTjeSnmmarily burned, as has been the ca&f'Ojintil a few weeks ago. Such fruit will be sorted, and only that which is rejected after this process will be destroyed; the remainder will be permitted to be sent to jam factories under bond and stringent conditions, or, if the Chief Inspector thinks fit, it may go into distribution. • • • » • The conference, in dealing with the standard fruit-case question, haa fixed the sizes at two bushels, one bushel, a half-bushel, and a quarter-bushel, the shapes of the cases for the various kinds of fruit to be decided by regulation, and to be uniform in all the States. It has also been decided that in the inspection of froit it will be sufficient to remove the side of each case, and to avoid tipping out the contents. • • • • • > The following are the principal resolutions passed by the conference, some of them of considerable interest to New Zealand as affecting th© importation of fruit that may be infected by pests : — 1. That all fruit, vegetables and plants exported from one State to another shall bo inspected on their merits. 2. That no State shall prohibit the importation of fruit, vegetables, or plants, exported to it from another State, on account of any diseases affecting 6uch fruit, vegetables, or plants, which is .common to both such Estates, providing that the exporting State has idopted and is carrying out, methods o suppress or cope with such disease iimilar to those adopted by and being arried out in the importing State. 4. That each case containing fruit, and adi Bag containing vegetables, exported rom one State to another, shall have tencilled upon it, or attached to it, a some plain and permanent way, either >he grower's or' exporter V (name and