NOXIOUS WEEDS BILL.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXI, Issue 9581, 4 August 1894, Page 4

NOXIOUS WEEDS BILL.

The president of the Auckland Provincial Agricultural Association, Mr. Kirkbride,. has received a copy of the Noxious Weeds Bill now before Parliament, and while acknowledging that it is a great improvement on the rather startling Noxious Weeds Bill of last session, there are several objectionable features still retained. The Agricultural Conference which sat recently

in Wellington, appointed a committee, of which Mr. ICirkbride was a member, to" through the No. 2 Bill of last session and suggest such improvements as would make the measure a common sense, practicable enactment. In the Bill now issued that part of section 7 compelling every occupier of land to trim or cut, etc., all hedges or live is still., retained, although the committee considered it unnecessary and impracticable. If the section had applied to hedges of a noxious character, such as blackberry, sweet-briar, or gorse, no objection could be taken to it, but to make it applicable to hedges consisting .of such plants as African box-thorn, hakea, quick-thorn, etc., which do not spread, is altogether unnecessary and . ridiculous. The State might as well make it penal for. a . man •to leave the . ornamental trees or shrubs in his grounds or his j own or his children's hair uncut or untrimmed, The committee also objected to and struck out that portion of section 8 which prohibits the sale of hay, straw, or chaff containing .any seeds or spores of weeds, as being entirely practicable. Very : little of the hay or straw in the country is entirely free from weeds such as docks and other weeds mentioned in schedule B. With the machinery and appliances now available, grass or other seeds or grain for seed may be entirely cleaned, freed from the seeds of weeds; therefore to prohibit any person from selling grass seed, vegetable seeds, and grain ;■ for seed which contains the seeds of noxious Weeds is well within the range of practicability. There was to be no schedule B. The only weeds the committee agreed to retain in the Noxious Weeds Bill were those in schedule A, viz., Bathurst and Noogoora Burr, blackberry, broom, gorse, sweetbriar, Canadian thistle, Giant burdock, Star thistles, wild turnip, and wild mustard. We should have thought that the suggestions and recommendations of practical farmers, to whom the extermination of noxious weeds is a question of primary importance, would be an excellent guide for the Government in this matter ; and legislators should bear in mind that laws of an impracticable character will remain a dead letter, and defeat the end aimed at. People connected with agriculture would do well to carefully consider the Noxious Weeds Bill now before the House. One injustice is rectified ill the proposed Bill (thanks to the I Agricultural Conference), viz., the whole of the cost of clearing public. reserves, not vested in any trustees, and Crown lands, is to be refunded by the Government to the local authority in whose district such lands are situated. In former Bills the Government were only to refund onehalf of the cost, which was afterwards raised to three-fourths. Native lands are ■ also to be brought under the operations of the Act. The Minister of Agriculture is to - administer the Act where native lands are outside the jurisdiction of any local authority. This will be a big contract for the Hon. John McKenzie, and we hope it may be carried out in the interests of those settlers who have Maoris for neighbours, and whose lands are often seed-beds and nurseries of noxious weeds. In the case of native landsj the titles to which have not been individualised, the local authority of the district in which such lands are situate is to clear the same, and the cost is to be refunded by the Native 'Minister out of any moneys available for native purposes. There is one point, however, which should not be lost sight of in any legislation that may be taken in connection with the gorse plant. . That it is a nuisance when allowed to spread on public roads from improperly trimmed edges, there can be •no doubt whatever, but it should not be 'forgotten that the" gorse plant is greedily eaten by cattle, horses, and sheep, and in-the home country, bruised gorse plants form notunfrequently wholesome food for cattle and horses in the winter season. That it is nourishing when so fed is well known, and at the present time extensive experiments are boing made in .the Bay of Islands district with its culture as a fodder plant for ordinary farm stock. The experience of the last few years with some gorse growing in the Kerilceri district, lias been so encouraging that very large quantities of gorse seed is being sown this season for the production of permanent fodder for stock. One settler is importing two large gorse-bruising machines, which will be able to bruise many tons per day each. From the experience obtained it is anticipated that a gorse plantation will provide food for about fifteen sheep per acre. If these expectations are likely to bo realised, it is evident that the gorse plant, under proper control, would be a large wealth-producer, and might be found useful in covering the barren pumice plains of Taupo and other districts with fodder plants. When such a possibility exists, some arrangement should be made by the Legislature .by . which the experiments now in progress should be given a fair trial, and their extension in the future ensured, should results obtained justify such a course being adopted.