EXTERMINATING THE FLY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LX, Issue 18498, 7 September 1923, Page 9

EXTERMINATING THE FLY.

LONG RANGE OF FLIGHT.

■EXPERIMENTS AT THE NTH AM

It has been proved by experiments at Trent-ham that the fly has a flying range* of a mile, perhaps more, in his excursions! .between his feeding ground and breeding; i ground. If .this is so, does it matter much whether a shop selling unprotected foodstuffs is 50 yards ,or 150 yards from a ['stable where > flies 5 are allowed to breed ? To fight an insect with such a range of flight, is ... it not necessary to banish stables right out of bounds, or else" to create at the stables such conditions that the fly cannot breed there. ' The 'Sanitation'; Committee of : the Health . Week organisation 1 leaned toward the latter course/ says a. Wellington paper. It /was argued that if the manure was regularly sprayed, it became not merely a non-breeding place for flies, . but a death-trap for those flies that did enter the ; manure ' bin at the stable. y Then arose the question: "If spraying is death to flies, is it necessary to have a fly-proof lid to the stable manure bin It was admitted that, even in stables where such lid exists, it was seldom flyproof. "As spraying is effective, why worry about the lid V asked a member. V " That is all right," came the answer, "provided you can depend on the spraying being done. But if you can't, surely you need a second precaution/in the shape of a proper manure bin with a proper lid." ; ' ; , 'v. Then someone found; another weak spot in the spraying precaution. Certain people who failed/to spray had ; been brought before a magistrate, who refused to convict, because the defendants pleaded that the spraying mixture was unprocurable. :; On this statement comment was made by another member, who stated that there were a number of suitable .spraying, mixtures, and that the first oil .(called No. 1 light oil) given off in the distillation of coal tar, was quite effective. : The committee* decided 'to recommend the Health' Week executive to ask the City. Council to keep/i stock of the spraving material, in view of the magistrate s acceptance of .the abovementioned plea. There are 168 stables _ in Wellington. The Trentham observations of fly-flight were, it was stated, made during the Trentham encampment - by Professor Kirk, who; observed the movements of flies, as between the military stables and the pig farm:, bv spraying flies, either at the stables, or the (arm, with a very fine whitewash, and by trapping them m a fly-trap at the other end. /^