COPRA AND PESTS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXV, Issue 20105, 16 November 1928, Page 11

COPRA AND PESTS.

LEVUANA MOTH / AND RATS.

RESEARCHES IN ISLANDS. WORK DONE BY OWLS. [jROM OCR OWN CORRESPONDENT. ] SUVA, Nov. 5. Copra is the life-blood of tho Solomon Islands, and like many other South Pacific Islands, they have their pests which affect the industry to a great extent. The Solomons come under tlic jurisdiction of the High Commissioner for the Western Pacific, Sir Eyre Hutson, and jls destinies are, therefore, to a certain extent interwoven with those of Fiji. Consequently when it was found necessary to have expert advice the assistance of the l r iji Government was sought, and Dr. Tothill, superintendent of agriculture, a noted entomologist, who has mado a name for himself in his fight in Fiji against the levuana moth, which for many years played havoc with the cocoanut crops, was sent to tho Solomons three months ago, accompanied by another of Fiji's entomologists, Mr. Paine, Ho returned tin's week He has not yet prepared his report, but when interviewed he touched on a number of points which ' are of first importance to Fiji and to any copra-growing country. Referring to the levuana moth Dr. Tothill said that in tho. Solomons they bad found insects very closely resembling levuan i, as it is known in Fiji, but" not the actual post itself. One of the variations was found in the cocoanut, one in ginucr and one in wild bananas. All threes were very scarce, and there worn many parasites which preyed on them and kept them down. All tho way through Malaya, Java, New Guinea, down to the Solomon and New Hebrides and Fiji was a definite chain of these varieties. Down to the Solomons they became thinner and thinner in each group on account of the. presence in strength of parasites. The Solomons, however, was the last placo where the parasites were found, and it appears that the levuana may be one of the chain of varieties which has flourished here and developed into a pest on account of tho break in the chain of parasites which have not been able to bridge the gap between the Solomons and FijiDr. Tothill was very much interested in a crop which flourishes in the planta tions in the Solomons, and ho is making arrangements to introduce it to Fiji. It was desmodium, a clover-like leguminous plant, which does extremely well in the plantations, covering the ground with an excellent green sward, of which tho cattl* arc very fond and on which they thrive It was introduced many years ago into the Solomons from Japan by the then resident commissioner, Mr. Woodford. One of tho wonderful features of tho plant is that, once it is established, it defies all weeds.

Prior to Dr. Tothill's departure from Suva tho Cocoanut Committee discussed the question of introducing owls to combat., the rat pest on plantations. Rats climb tho pahn trees and live in them, gnawing holes in tho nuts, from which they get both food and water, or rather, cocoanut milk. The nuts then fall and arc useless for copra. Tho losses have been very serious recently, particularly on account of the dry weather.

Dr. Tothill was asked to make what in quiries he could in this matter; so when in Sydney be called on Dr. Le Soeuf, a well-known naturalist, in charge of Taronga Park, and discussed the- matter with him. Dr. Le Soeuf showed Bim a species of owl in the zoo, Ninox Noviae Hollandiac, which had been sent on a similar mission to Lord Howe Island where, over a number of. years, very favourable results had been obtained There had been a decided decline in the number of rats, and a big percentagp of this decline* could be set down to tho ravages of tho owls. This particular soecies -was peculiar in that it was essentially a rat-feeder —lived on rats entirely. Dr. Le Soeuf told him that there was no possibility of it becoming a pest on poultry or insectivorous birds. Dr. Tothill ordered a dozen pairs of the owls to be sent to Fiji