SPREAD OF RAGWORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21537, 8 January 1932, Page 4

SPREAD OF RAGWORT

WORK FOR UNEMPLOYED MR C. H. CLINKARD’S PROPOSAL. Holding that ragwort is the greatest menace to the future settlers of New Zealand, Mr C. H. Clinkard, M.P. for Rotorua, in a letter to the Prime Minister (Mr G. W. Forbes) and other Ministers of the Crown, urges that the unemployed- should be utilised on the work of eradicating the weed.

“No other land pest approaches the ravages of this vile plant,” says Mr Clinkard in his letter. “Not only does it impoverish the soil, and, throwing its seed upon the wind, enlarge its everwidening circle, but if eaten by the dairy cow, it detrimentally affects the milk, while, if it is consumed in quantities, horses, cattle, and sheep die as a result of its poison. When I knew it first, over 20 years ago, it was brought in with horse feed, and I, for one, left any other work to destroy stray plants. To-day, however, there appears to bo an apathy abroad which has allowed the curse to spread in all directions. Recently I travelled over more than 2000 miles of country roads in my own and neighbouring constituencies, and the evidence which I saw convinced me more than ever (if, indeed, that were possible), that the most prompt and determined steps are neces-' sary, not only to check, but to eradicate the pest., “While I recognise that it is the duty of the landowner to destroy this, as well as every other noxious weed, and while I agree that he should, if necessary, be compelled to protect his own and his neighbours’ interests, at the same time I know of use to which the activities of unemployed men can be directed in which results of equal value can be achieved. I cannot emphasise too strongly my conviction that it is futile trying, as we are, to increase production unless this greatest of all despoilers be effectively repressed.”