SEED ADULTERATION.
THE AUCKLAND COMPLAINTS.
; . DUNEDIN MERCHANTS VIEWS. i , ) |BT TKI.KOr.ArH. —OWN CORRKSItjNKENT.J DiNKiHN, Friday. With reference to the complaints that have emanated from Auckland in regard to the inferior seed which farmers are receiving, Mr. A. Moritzspn stated to a Times reporter to-day that he regrets to say there is some truth in the assertion. Seed uuvers in the Dominion have, to his knowledge, inquired from other houses for the offals, such as light seed blowimgs with no germinating power whatever. This seed he was sure was not used for rough gullies or rough -country, bat was very often used to mix again with clean seed, in order to reduce its cost before supplying to fanners or other purchasers. He was quite sure that all the seed which left Banks' Peninsula this year for the North Island, Blenheim, and Nelson, in ail some 45.000 sacks or more, nad been sold and sown by North Islander? without being dressed by machinery. Hie Banks' Peninsula seed was this year bright, fairly clean, and only contained a little fog grass. The natural weight of the seed was equal to from 131b to 151b per bushel, and there was very little 121b available. The seed as a whole was the finest that has been harvested for many years past, and the complaints raised at Auckland would certainly not refer to what was shipped from Banks' Peninsula. If there is anything in the complaint raised in Auckland, it is Fairly evident that the seed received must have been adulterated. In regard to seed that is purchased by the Survey Department for distribution on Crown and waste lands, the samples only are examined fay the Department, and it is accordingly open to the seller to send what he likes, or in other words it is quite possible for him, with out fear of detection, to. freely adulterate such seed. Mr. Moritzson strongly urges the introduction of a Seed Adulteration Bill, a measure which the present disclosures show is urgently required.
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Bibliographic details
New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 8
Word Count
335SEED ADULTERATION. New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13722, 11 April 1908, Page 8
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