NOXIOUS WEEDS ACT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18459, 24 July 1923, Page 8

NOXIOUS WEEDS ACT.

- * ; ' V » • • ' " ■•! .V' - AMENDMENTS IN THE ; HOUSE. POWERS OF LOCAL BODIES. HEDGE' TRIMMING PROVISION [BY TELEGRAPH. — REPORTER.] ; , WELLINGTON. Monday. The Noxious Weeds • Amendment Bill came up for its. second reading m .the House of Representatives this evening. It provides that local Authorities may declare plants in tlie second schedule v of. the Act, except blackberry, •; not to be noxious weeds, that. the ; occupier . shall - trim cerj tain classea -of hedges and ; clear < lands .of certain wee da on notice from an inspector, and. that special measures for the control of noxious -weeds may ho • agreed upon, and that regulations may be made prescribing times for , clearing noxious -weeds. The Minister -for Agriculture, the Hon. W. Nosworthy, explained that a ; general revision of the- Act was. needed, and the Bill was a temporary measure. Mr. G. W. Forbes .(Hurunui) said he was inclined to think that the '/:■ amendments would tend to weaken the. administration of the Act, and that was a .thing which the Government ought by no to do. Ho objected to the proposal that Canadian thistle be removed into the optional list. The plant needed very ; much to be kept'in check, and ;it was particularly . troublesome .on the rivereds of Canterbury. Mr. Forbes added that it was very necessary that, as an accompaniment to the ' Noxious . Weeds Act, there should be the Pure Seeds Act. A Bill had been introduced three or four

years ago, evidence had been taken -by a committee, but the Bill had been postponed. Apparently the. influence of , the seed merchants had been sufficient to effccfc this. He would like to know what,* .v; hadhappened ; to the Bill. It wag unfair to compel a landowner to clear from the road dividing his property weeds which had not come thence. _ The local body should be made responsible. " - . ■ - Mr. F. F. Hockjy > (Rotorua) : said that local bodies should bo allowed freedom in drawing up schedules of noxious weeds for _ their districts because conditions varied greatly in different: parts of the Dominion. It was useless, for example, to cut Californian thistle on steep bush country. To do so only made matters worso. Ragwort was spreading very rapidly in, the Waikato and elsewhere, and it was difficult to know how to deal with it. He did not think that an inspector should have the right to harass a firmer, but should be compelled to wcr 1, in with him so far as necessary fanning operations were concerned. Mr. Holland, Leader of the Labour Party, urged more drastic action to deal with* noxious weeds on the West Coast. Mr. W. H. Field (Otaki) suggested that the Bill be referred to the Agriculture and Stock Committee of the House. He advocated the declaration of hemlock as a noxious weed on the ground that it was poisonous to stock and was spreading considerably. The Hon. D. Buddo (Kaiapoi) objected to any alteration of the Act, which, ho said, only needed to be administered efficiently. Several other members contributed to the debate, and spoke of the harmfulnesa or otherwise of various plants in various districts. It appeared to bo agreed that Californian thistle did not require drastio treatment, but usually died out if left alone. _ ■' . , The Minister, in reply, said he was really bringing in a more drastic measure than the old Act. He had' no wish to relax legislation on th« noxious weeds question, but it was no good making castiron regulations. . The best plan was to let local bodies decide what were the most dangerous weeds in - their districts, excluding blackberry, which ' was 'a' national pest. m ■•. The Bill was read a second time. " ~