NOXIOUS WEEDS CONTROL

Taranaki Daily News, 27 October 1932, Page 15

NOXIOUS WEEDS CONTROL

expensive business nowadays. AMENDMENT-OF ACT SUGGESTED. The administration of the Noxious Weeds Act entails considerable expenditure in the endeavour to bring about observance of its requirements, states the Director-General of Agriculture in his annual report, and a review of the position to-day and of the results of the efforts of past years raises the question whether this expenditure is worth : while. In closely settled areas farmers, in. their own interests, should keep weeds under proper control, and most of them do so, especially as by the -use of sodium chlorate ragwort can now be effectively and economically dealt with. On ■larger properties, especially in broken country, this weed is still a nuisance, •but, on the whole, it is no longer the serious menace it was a few years since. As regards other noxious weeds, blackberry is the worst. Having regard to all the circumstances it is believed that no serious results w’ould accrue if the Act, as at present constituted, were repealed and replaced by a measure so framed as to enable adequate measures to he taken to deal with any unforeseen development of serious spread of any existing or newly introduced noxious weed, and to give authority to County Councils and urban authorities to take such measures in the event of necessity arising. Local authorities might be unwilling. to accept -this responsibility on the score of expense, but the amount involved should be small under ordinary circumstances, and it would be .reasonable to, make provision for., financial •assistance from the Government in the unlikely event of trouble arising to a

sufficient extent t» involve active measures and considerable expenditure.. As a. matter of fact, County Councils already possess powers enabling them to. deal with noxious weeds'. They also have - powers to declare any-plant, other ■than blackberry, not to be regarded : as l-noxious weeds within their district, and this has been exercised to a sufficient -extent in Otago and Southland to "render the''Noxious Weeds Act.practically a dead Tetter «'in those provinces.