ERADICATING PESTS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXX, Issue 21507, 2 June 1933, Page 13

ERADICATING PESTS

Sir, —In an attempt to solve the unemployment problem and to materially assist the farmer (as by assisting tlio farmer you assist all business and trades), I ask space to express the following. Every farmer in New Zealand to submit to a deduction of id per lb. butter-fat, to be subsidised by the Government, pound for pound, and enlist the services of unemployed to eradicate ragwort, rabbits, blackberry and. gorse. Those farmers who have neither, soon will have, as these pests spread at an alarming rate. And the majority of farmers whoso farms arc infested have neither the time, money or labour to check them, let alone eradicate them. Work could also be found in planting live hedges, cutting and clearing fern and scrub, the former a much needed shelter for cattle and pastures. .Camps could be constructed in badly" infested areas. Stored public works lorries could serve the transportation needs. In lesser infested areas the local county council lorries could assist. Men .should bo paid a fair wage. Married men 12s 6d per day, single men 10s. The farmers would bo fully compensated in the expenditure of the id per lb. buttfcr-fat, as local consumption would materially increase, owing to the worker being able to buy, to say nothing of the increased production that would accrue. Sheep and dry stock farmers could be rated correspondingly. J.H.I.