SMALL BIRD PEST.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIC, Issue 13330, 6 July 1907, Page 6

SMALL BIRD PEST.

ACTION BY THE FARMERS' UNION. At the Fanners' Union conference on Wednesday Auckland and Southland supported a remit—" That the lawes relating to the destruction of.,small i birds should be rigidly enforced against all town authorities, the. precincts of the towns now proving a seoure breeding place for them, whence they spread through the country." "■.Mr H. Richards ;(Levin) said the people of the south suffered in their grain, Jjut 011 the Manawatu it was the fruit that was ruined. It was impossible to ,have a single:late variety of fruit on the trees. • / The president said \ that- about eight years ago at a conference in Dunedin, when Mr Ritchie wanted a general bill dealing with the whole of New Zealand, the speaker had vigorously and successfully resisted its course. Evidently the Act was not in force in the North Island. He confessed now that he was wrong, and that it would have been better if lie had not succeeded.''■.' However, the act could now be brought into force in the North Island'if the local bodies in con-' icieiice desired it. .Mr Ritchie said he hoped that an amending bid would be biought in this session. He still thought it would be almost impossible to deal with the birds in the towns without going further than the act provided, as t lit y could not poison or trap. His idea was that .they should compel every body to harry the birds and prevent them existing on their prope&ties. it might be made an offence to allow birds to nest within a certain distance of their house? or on small sections. The President: It would' have to be wilfully allowing. ■ ; • Mr Ritchie: Well, say knowingly. • 'the motion was earned. Mr Stewart (Otago) moved—" That where there is no provision made by local bodies the Minister of Lands b& requested to instruct the .stock inspectors to pre2>are suitable 1 poisoned seeds for the destruction of the/sinall birds in the' same way as they ri6w prepare pollard and grain for the destruction of rabbits, also that the stock inspectors be instructed to enforce the Small Birds Nuisance Act by compelling" the governing authorities 1 to make war against a" pest more destructive to grain growers than' the rabbit nest. Mr Ritchie endorsed a suggestion by the president that a certain day should be fixed for universal poisoning. . He said they might have the thing arranged by a board, on which the local bodies would be repre.'.-ented. They could feed the birds for a while, and then suddenly without a moment's notice, poison all over the country. The motion was/agreed to, with slig'it dissent. A- vote of thanks was accorded to MiRitchie. " . MR JOHN GRIGG'S RECIPE. At a. meeting of (.lie Ashburton A. and P. Association on June 12, u discussion took place on the small birds' nuisance, and it was decided that "Mr J. C. N. Grigg should, be asked to obtain the recipe used by his, father, and which proved veiy effective in destroying the birds. Mr Grigg, in accordance with the Association's request, forwarded a copy of a Government- leuflet on the matter, drawn up by the Chief Chemist of the Department, of Agriculture, and in which that gentleman speaks of and quotes Mr Grigg's recipe as follows : This method was brought under my notice by Mr J. Grigg, of Longbeach (to whom my best thanks are due), on whose station ib had been used with great success, as many as two thousand birds being killerl in a morning. The' principle of this method is that the grain is superficially coated with particle."? of strychnine,' which are made to adhere by damping the grain with. a. little fre*h milk. Xho Government property surrounding the llurnhani Industrial' school presents unequalled facilities for carrying on experiments of this nature, and the grounds surroundinu .(hat institution have "accordingly been the site of the latest experiments. Tlip result of thpse experiment o was to demonstrate indisputably' that strychnine preparations, mixed dry. were so much more efficient than others", that I have no

hesitation in advising the abandonment of other methods of mixing a-t present practised in the poisoning of birds, in favour of the following: Ten pounds of good sound wheat- is thoroughly damped with fresh milk so that the whole gram is wet, but not dripping with moisture. Five-sixths of an ounce (avoirdupois) ol pondered sLrvchnine. not too line, is then gradually shaken on to the grain, the whole being constantly stirred. When all the strychnine is mixed' in. -the gram may be immediately laid. This is be't done by laving a. good train of chaff, without" any oat*, to attract- attention. The poisoned grain is then very slightly sprinkled on the chaff.