DEALING WITH RAGWORT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18471, 7 August 1923, Page 10

DEALING WITH RAGWORT.

< ———-—♦— MOVE BYTE KUITI FARMERS. Our King Country correspondent writes: —At a meeting.of the Te Kuiti A. and P. Association, called for the main purpose of ; discussing the ragwort pest, Mr. Mostyn Jones, the president, stated that the King Country had come to be regarded as a district covered with ragwort. Ragwort was certainly in evidence, but not to the, extent commonly supposed, and not mors so than in other districts. The best way in which they could remove this impression from the minds of outsiders was to see that only the very best stock was exhibited, as this would acquaint visitors with what the district was capable of producing. Mr. J. N. Boddie, speaking on the matter, . claimed that the 1923 Act did not go far enough. What was required was a small committee in every district to lighten the work of the inspectors, who at present had too much country to cover. Mr. A. P. Grey maintained that the first step in doing away with the pest would be to emphatically insist on the native land being cleaned up. He asked what was the use of the European farmer cleaning up his farm, if his native neighbour was allowed to let tho ragwort grow in profusion. In addition to this, ragwort.was spreading on Crown lands that were at present unoccupied. It would be better to give the land away, and have the spread of the weed stopped, than leave the areas in their present condition. Some 15 years ago the Government had assisted Te-Rau-a-Moa settlers to purchase sheep for the ! purpose of checking the growth of ragj wort, and the results were highly successj ful. Mr. Boddie asserted that if ragwort was' not eradicated with as little delay as possible, it would result in the "death of the dairying industry." Little proI gress, however, could be achieved till the I natives were compelled 'to clear their holdings, and till then little practical progress could be made. Messrs. J. N. Boddie, A. P. Grey W. Stringer, and R. M. Somerville were appointed a subcommittee to investigate ways and means of combating the growth of this' destructive weed. 7.',;.' '■' '.'■■,■.-'