UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 6123, 9 March 1898, Page 4

UNION STEAMSHIP COMPANY.

With reference to tho cable, news . fron? London that the Union Steamship.Company intend issuing 4 per cent debentures for .£220,000, it is explained thafc- the operation is simply a conversion or thecompany's current debentures into debenture stock at a reduced rate of interest,, and does not mean fresh borrowing. A WALNUT BLIGHT. This year a dual blight has appeared on the walnut trees in Napier and its vicinity. It is first seen in the form of a speck of what appears like iron rust on the outer husk. This quickly spreads, and under tho microscope seems to bo a fungoid growth, which dries the sap pi" the husk and causes it to crack. Curiously enough, in some instances the fruit does not appear to be affected, for while part of the shell is blackenecl, the blight does not seem to have extended further. In others the fruit is shrivelled and blackened. Then some insect— said by one experienced gardener to be codlin moth — lays its eggs in the cracks in the bark, and the moth, when hatched, bores its way into the fruit and destroys it. The Hawlce's Bay Herald is inclined to doubt whether it is codlin moth, but undoubtedly some caterpillar eats its way through the hard shell into the nut.