RAVAGES UPON FRUIT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 19953, 23 May 1928, Page 13

RAVAGES UPON FRUIT.

FIGHTING DANGEROUS PESTS. SPECIAL RESEARCH URGED. OFFER OF SUBSIDY MADE. With the object of encouraging research to combat the principal pests and diseases affecting the fruit industry, the directors of the New Zealand Fruitgrowers' Federation have agreed to give a subsidy of £IOO a year for two years in order to make possible the employment of a special assistant at the Lawthron Institute. The annual report of the board of directors states fruitgrowers had for several years emphasised the necessity for research work lieing carried out in an endeavour to prevent the ravages of pests and diseases upon fruit. The Department of Agriculture and the Cawthron Institute had given valuable assistance in the past, but there were two outstanding pests in the bronze beetle and the earwig, over which there was still no control. To assist in this direction it had been agreed to give a subsidy of £IOO a year for two years. In addition the Department of and Industrial Research had agreed to give a subsidy of £l5O a year, and the money would be used to employ a special research assistant. The two chief pests would receive special attention, as great expense would bo saved if some effective means of control could be discovered.