SALE OF BLACKBERRIES.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20823, 16 March 1931, Page 5

SALE OF BLACKBERRIES.

PROHIBITION IN DUNEDIN.

LOCAL FIRMS NOT NOTIFIED

The prohibition against selling blackberries, 011 the grounds that they are included in the list of'noxious weeds, which was received by wholesale fruit auctioneers in Dunedin from the Agricultural Department recently, has not yet been forwarded to Auckland. No advico had been received in Auckland on Saturday morning, according to Mr. Harvey Turner, managing director of Turners and Growers, Limited, and Mr. W. H. Rice, of Radliy and Company, Limited. " The law against the sale of blackberries; was introduced a number of years but for some time it lias not. been enforcec'," Mr. Turner said. The departing t apparently realised that birds spread, more seed than the sale of the berrieu ever could. In fact, when the berries were sold, they were almost invariably cooked and made into jam or preserves, and this was really a guard against the spreading of the seed. It would be a very big mistake for the department to take any action at present, Mr. Turner added. _ Blackberries were sold in every centre in New Zealand, and it was surely preferable for them to be picked and cooked, rather than to allow the seed to be spread by bi*ds. Moreover, there were at present many /people in straightened circumstances who were making quite an appreciable amount of money by picking berries and selling them, E.nd it would be a pity to deprive them of the extra money they were able

to earn. . Mr. Rice said that blackberries had been on sale for many years, and it waa generally acknowledged that there was little chance pf the seed being spread in this manner. Many townspeople who would otherwise be unable to obtain blackberries had an opportunity of purchasing them in the market, and were saved the trouble of going into tho country to pick for themselves. If ever the regulation should be lifted, it was at the present time, he said,_ when so many people were earning a little money by supplying berries to the market.