VIEWS OF FRUITGROWERS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13852, 11 September 1908, Page 6

VIEWS OF FRUITGROWERS.

THE REGULATIONS SUPPORTED. . The fruitgrowers in the Dominion naturally; * view the agitation of the importers for th« ■■ rescinding of the new fruit fly regulations] with little sympathy. *' Our interests should certainly have soma consideration," said one of the largest fruit* ■ growers in New Zealand to a representativa ; of the Herald yesterday. " Widespread ,\ ruin would follow "were the fly to get a foot* - '" ,' ing in this country. In Nelson, Motueka, Whangarei, and Central Otago hundreds of men have invested large sums of money i in orchards. In one district in Hawke i " .bay £235,000 has beer spent in planting "■ orchards, £45,000 being invested in on« orchard alone. Last year the fruit grown, , in the Dominion was valued at a millions sterling. The New Zealand orchards am.;/ now <?oing ahead rapidly, and the grower* are fast rinding their feet. One season ■ ofifijf nV and all the labour and capital would go' for nothing. There are only a coupk of ■% dozen importers in the whole Dominion,,, . but there are. about 10,000 members of thai Fruitgrowers' Association. p\' "It is a well-known fact that Fiji and •'.,; Tonga in particular are swarming with fly,'' vand the mile limit regulation is only * ' i reasonable one. The old system of relying ; upon inspection on landing for the discovery 1 of fly was full of dangers, and the Depart* ment of Agriculture very rightly recognised-. ! the fact. An Island boat often briu?i ~ : 20,000 packages of fruit to Auckland. How;' - ;.;, could one inspector, or even a dozen, ex- ''.:' ! amine each package in the search for fly? fm , It would be perfectly impossible, for ft] if would take weeks of work. Yet two or* three packages of infected fruit might very >, readily bring about a scourge which wouUi \ destroy every orchard in New Zealand.'., Growers here have had a little experience! " r . of the pest already. A small quantity of infected fruit landed in Auckland caused thai fly to obtain a grip in the orchards on thai North Shore, while the fly also mad* ■iWr •'.'•• appearance at Napiei and Blenheim. The" '.„ ; Department of Agriculture has worked hard to overcome the pest, and ha.- succeeded,, . and it would be highlv unwise to allow the danger to continue. The codlin moth cam* •. from America in a shipment of bad fruit-, I and is to-day one of the worst of pests, at- ; tacking apples, pears, and quinces. *■ '. "And it is not only the Island produce '"J that is a source of immense danger. The fruit which comes from New South W».l<«is equally bad. It is admitted that there, "■ are only six orchards in that State free of iVr . fly. yet there are many people advocating -\ that New South Wales should be 'allowed ' to continue sending us ■fruit. The fly hal ! 'j cost the New South Wale'- orch&rdists V ■■< £2.000,000 up. to date. South Austral* , and West Australia have had the wisdom to stop the importation of fly-infected fruit ', into their confines. One concession uiigM* be made to the importers—bananas which ' C ! are certified as having been shipped grew* § could be allowed into New Zealand free «■? the restrictions applying to other fruit. "The | flv has not yet been found to attack tl* I . green banana. In other regards the rendi- ;| tions are onlv sane and reasonable ones, il the fruitgrowers of New Zealand are to be ■■}?.■ protected." m

SAN JOSE SCALE IN NELSON. [BY TELEGRAPH. PKESS ASSOCIATION'.] Nelson, Thursday. r|; Tn the course of an interview concerning - the steps taken to suppress the San Jose ." scale at Nelson, Mr. Kirk (Government .-; nomologist) was asked wha! war being done with regard to gardens not yet treat- - j ed by the inspector He replied : " Itispec- *| tors, as far as possible, will •oinplete th« I spraying oi affected trees in the Toitoi I Valley, but owners may rely that trees I will not be headed back more than sufficient to enable effective spraying to be car- 1 ried out. The, trees wil' be cut back only I sufficiently low for spraying t, be done " I This implies that on the' protest of house* 1 holders, the virtual wholesale destruction M of fruit trees that was proceeding -has" I been suspended an a consequence of th« »t -M presentations, made.