DISEASED FRUIT.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13489, 10 January 1908, Page 5

DISEASED FRUIT.

Per Press Association. WELLINGTON, January 9. The recently reported decision of the Biological .Department to enforce with strictness the penal clause* of the Act relating to di.'eaised fruit caused something of a air. For the guidance of any who may be unaware of the fact it is mentioned 'that a, gift of diseased fruit makes the giver liable to a. penalty ju-st. as much aw a, seller would be. " Anybody concerned in distributing diseased fruit," ave< the l terms of the Act. "it has become absolutely necessary to administer the .penal clau'.vs .strikingly."' -said Mr Kirk, chief .of the Biological Department. " There havebeen' three years of warning given to orchanlist'ls, and to permit otfences to continue now would bs unfair to careful growers?, and unwis-e from a. commercial point of view. A great deal of money baa been invested in orchard properties, and to allow such a pest r.s the Mediterranean fruit fly U> establish itself hero would be ruinous. "There i:; now an area i>f 28,515 acro> under orchard cultivation within New Zealand, and this is increasing at the; rate- of 700 acres a ycar.g In this estimate no cognisance is taken of) any area lew than a quarter of an acre, and land under tomatoes crop j.< also left out. A commercial orchard in bearing should, it ii> stat-ed give a return of not less than £3O an acre, and on this ba.s : e it will be <«.;cn that the 'Department i.'.i charged with the infriT«st« of an industry worth £755,450 per annum."