LECTURE BY DR TILLYARD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LIV, Issue LIV, 20 February 1920, Page 6

LECTURE BY DR TILLYARD

•‘BLIGHT CONTROL.’* The wide inlterest evinced in the lecture by Dr TUlyard, of Sydney Univenaity, on “Blight 'Control,'’ was da' moneiUrajted last when the School of Music held a crowded audience from ail parts of the district. The lecture j was given under the auspices c,* the C'awthron! Institute. I>r Tiilyard, held the close and interested attention of those present throughout hie address, which wan delivered in popular language, and ait, the close the rounds of applause testified to the deep impres siou the lecturer had. made on the minds of his hearers. The Bishop of Nelson, as Chairman of the Gawthirou Trustees, presided, and introduced iDIr Tiilyard a® one of the most distinguished scientists who had over visited New Zealand. _ The cihair man mentioned) that Dr Tiilyard was under tiro disadvantage that the Inis tees had chosen the title of the lecture without consulting him, and that he had had no opportunity of consulting hi© text books., and! notes on the subject’. The lantern slides also ha<ji been prepared in a great hurry, the last one being finished only that afternoon by Mr Davis, curator of the Institute, the Bishop then called upon the lecturer to give his address- . .. Dr Tiilyard prefaced; 'tire mam, portion of his lecture by enumerating the names of insects, some of were injurious and some beneficial. One or enormous importance, ho *:*' the mosquito. In dealing with the van oua blights, Dr Tiilyard was emphatic in urging that if science was to justify its existence research wcA must be done and special staffs employed £ remedies to control these methods of controlling blight me lecture-divided into three sections, [Til) mechanical control, winch was one’of the most important, such as uninimr etc. • (2) chemical conl--rol—-the application of sprays to one of the most successful methods todry. In this connection it was urged i*hat' the Nelson district should not he satisfied to know what was dbne m other pai-s, but research work should be carried out, and Nelson should jno rest content until it had found what was best suited to her particular needs. (3) Biological method of control—thi*rs, the control of insect pests by . other forms of living organisms. In this con nection, the lecturer gave several nr rtancea of success achieved 1 in this chrec tion. mentioning how phylloxera, one of the most dreaded diseases in tlie world 20 or 40 years ago, had been com bated bv the use of resiatent S-ook. Mentioning the value of control of pe»-J ■bv bird life, it was emphasised that the value of birds in relation to peats should be made a careful stmiy of, and when the time vnme of each bird was found we should insist on regulations being made to protect them'or otherwise, and see that such rcgulaions were rigidly enforccd> If this were done, he was of opinion that an increase of from 30 to 40 pel cent in our crop® would misue. tie would advocate the inta-oduction of more bats into New New Zealand; tTiey ate ijurious insect, and every farmer should recognise that the hat was h £ best friend, and »h<mldl do his to pfotect it. He rto put m a for frogs and lizard®- and incidentally mentioned that more than half a milhon insects had, been described, and there were also many other®. Ib should lw recognised that certain group® of them were beneficial. In this connection reference was made to the manner m which ladybirds had reduced a .citrus ©cab pest in California to a min , l ™ U T! An interesting description of ,how disease was combated' in America jaß grven, a method) whidh : New Zea!and should be prepared to follow. It wag not a one man job. but a thousand - man job, to find the . mean® of inserted In Riving interesting details of vadou« ineSts, -Dr ,THW rriEerniag to the beneficial ones, stated that could be calculated in pounds. Bering what they saved us !■& would probably run into millions of pounds, but; be cause we did not fully . realise their value we took little notice of them. In concluding the first portion of ■ hi® lecture some remarkable instance© ot the good effect of certain insects xn con trolling blights were given. The second part of to® 1 1 , eo^ re t devoted; tb a splendid collection ot elides being thrown on the ecreep, with explanatory note® thereon by Dr ,1 y At the conclusion of the lecture there was loud and prolonged applause from the large audience. . On the motion of Mr A. liilbeit, seconded by Mr Benwies, a heartv vote of thanks was accorded, to Dr. Tiilyard for his address. _ In acknowledging the compliment. Dr I Tillvard expressed his indebtedness to Mr'Davies, Curator of the Qiwthron Institute, for preparing the lantern slides.