FIRE BLIGHT

Waikato Times, Volume 94, Issue 14601, 26 February 1921, Page 5

FIRE BLIGHT

MEETING AT 'CAMBRIDGE A SERIOUS PROBLEM. DAIRY FARMERS FMB Ann ASS ED. In the districts between Ngaruawahir. and Cambridge it is authoritatively slated that there are more hawthorn hedges than in any similar area in the Dominion. Responsible officers of the Department of Agriculture estimati them at not less than 1000 miles. Scores of settlers in the Waikato covering the. districts about Hamilton, Cambridge, To Awamutu, Pirongia and Nsaruawahia have received notices from the Government to cut hack and turn their hawthorn hedges by thj inst March on account of the presence of fire blight. Seemingly the Government does not recognise the seriousness of the task it has set many settlers, who declare they are asked to do the impossible. A state akin to that of alarm' has been created, when it is indl • cated that fines up to £2O hang over the htads of many struggling dairy farmers because they have a few miles of hawth.nn shelter hedges. The Farmers" Union at Cambridge has taken the matter up, and the meeting called by that body for last night was largely attended. Among those present were Mr .1. A. Young, M.P., Mr Peynter (Chief Orchard Inspector for Waikato), and. Mr Cunningham (of Wellington, a necrologist of the State Biological Department, who is at pre sent in Waikato investigating the tire blight disease'. Mr S. H. Judd, president of the branch, occupied the chair. Mr Paynter's Address.

Mr Payiiter Impressed upon all present. that the'campaign in connection with fire blight had to be Meed some time. The disease was a must deadly one to pip fruits, and up to the present if was impossible of cure. He replied to statements that the disease had been in New Zealand for the past 20 years, which he characterised as sheer folly. Other diseases similar in clinical appearance were well known, but were not deadlj. It was a misfortune that Waikato was studded with hawthorn hedges. which aided the spread of the scourge. Between 12 and 18 months ago his attention was drawn to the state of certain pear trees at Tauranga, which he frusperted and feared were suffering from the dread disease After a careful diagnosis in the horticultural laboratory at Wellington of the specimens submitted, it was discovered early in 1020 that fire blight had broken out at Tauranga, Waikato and about Auckland. Systematic inspection was ordered, and about tho middle of th; autumn of 1020 it was found that hawthorns, mostly in Waikato, were affected. During this last spring it was anticipated there would be an outbreak, and at Tauranga this year some 20 acres of pears were coming out next month, while one. well-known settler last vcar at Matangi took out eight acres of apples. In dealing with the hawthorn hedges, they came to a knotty problem, and the only solution his Department can see is to remove the ""hawthorn. It was to save the fruit Industry of the Dominion that he desired to see the hawthorns go. Fruit production was now the fourth industry in wealth and importance in New Zealand. The fruit industry would be seriously menaced if the hawthorns were allowed to remain. Almost the whole area between Hamilton and Cambridge was closely planted with hawthorns, and he believed they were all aroing to die out. Voices: "No!") Be (Mr Paynter did not think the farmers realised the deadly nature of the disease. In cutting their hedges, they need be careful to cut well below the diseased parts, as they would carry the infection to healthy trees unless tt eir instruments were sterilised. In hedges which had been kept well cut hack between Ngaruawahia and Cambridge be had not discovered-any infection. His Department was satisfied that I: the disease was not coped with ,'n Waikato, it would be a case of "Heaven help the fruit industry throughout NewZealand," and it would make it impossible to grow certain classes of fruit. He appealed to dairy farmers for a sympathetic consideration of the case from the point of view of the fruitgrowers in other parts, especially Hastings, Hawke's Bay and iielson He pointed out that under Section 8 of the Orchard and Garden Pests Act, his Department had the fullest and all the pewers they desired tu order the cutting back or destruction of any tree or plant. Nature of trie Disease.

Mr Cunningham addressed the meeting on the technical :-ature of the disease, which he said v.as bacterial. In fruit it mainly attacked pears, apples and quinces, and was very deadly on the hawthorn. The life cycle of the organism was such that in one day one organism or germ could give rise to 25,000.000 other organisms. The organism lives sap and kills the p'ant. It first enters the plant during the blossoming period, and was carried by insects, and sprea. I from the flower down the stalk to the stem, which became ring-barked. Small blisters, eontiining enormous organisms, were formed and burst through. They were In the mass sweet, and insects of all kinds took the organisms up. The dis-c-asegerms became dormant through the winter, and revived themselves in the spring. Bees were very fond of tin ocze from the blisters, and the object of cutting down hedges prior to flowering was so that the bees could not carry the disease. The destruction of the hawthorn was a temporary niea pure, and if persisted in may wipe o,ut tie disease, which was more virulent >n t- hawthorn than in pears and apples. Mr J. A. Young, M.P., who was xpecially invited to attend the meeting,

said he was there rather in the capacity of a learner than a teacher or leader. For his part he did not question any of the statements made by the former gentlemen. Should the work of the Inspector appear drastic, they must realise that it was the. lion. Minister of Agriculture and the Government who must be held responsible for the policy and administration of law in relation to fire blight. His Mr Young's', business was to hear all that the representatives of the Government had to say, and then form his own conelusions along common sense lines, and protect, ami promote the welfare of the Dominion. What concerned him, as a politician, was the economic aspect of the problem, and its influence and effect upon the farmer ;iml trie fruitgrower. .Mr Payntcr had stressed that be was working entirely for the good of the fruit industry, and appealed to the dairy farmer- to endure the loss of their hawthorn hedges and shelter trees for the sake of the fruit growers i*~other parts of the Dominion. This sympathy for the distant fruit grower was all very -.ell and proper, bill who was going to compensate the Waikato farmers for destruction of iiieir shelter belts and fences? It cor' dy was not fair that the Waikato farmers should be expected to spend hundreds of thousands of pounds on a destructive campaign to ensure the safety of the fruit industry in otlmr parts of the Dominion. Mr Paynter was reported, in a speech some weeks ago, to have said that Jiev

had not less than 1000 miles of hawthorn hedges in Walkato, and that It would mst £2OO per mile to cut them back and burn the rubbish. All that was ordered to be done within four or five weeks, with an extension of time to July if asked for. Where, he asked, was the labour to tie found to cut and burn 1000 miles of hedges, and when' was the money to come from to pay the cost? The dairy fanners could not do the work, and they certainly could not find .(.'200.000 |o pay the hill. (Applause.; With the downward drift of prices, it would take many a man in the milking districts, all he knows to pull through during the next twelve months. He urged the meeting to lose no time in inviting the lion. Minister of Agriculture to the district with a view to impressing him with the impossibility of carrying out the presentpolicy of his department so far as the destruction of hawthorn hedges was concerned. Because the hawthorn hedges were a means for spreading the disease, Mr Young considered it was just about as logical to expect the farmer to pay for the wholesale destruction of this valuable asset in his shelter hedges and fences, as it would be to expect the apiarist to suffer, at his own cost, the wholesale destruction of his bees because they carried the disease from one kind of tree to another.

He advised everyone who destroyed either fruit or other trees under Government instruction to keep a correct account of all expenditure in that connection, and forthwith lodge with the Horticultural Department a formal demand for compensation for money expended and loss sustained. That would give the State authorities some Idea of" what the farmers . were up against, as well as the nature of the problem which the Government had to face.

Questions. Questions were addressed to Messrs F.'.ynter and Cunningham.

Mr Martin Butler, who asked for information as to the experience of America, said that he had received notice to cut some five miles of hedges In four weeks, and he estimated it would take about -10 men and cost him about £IOOO. He would like, to cooperate with the Department, but he could not carry out their request. It was beyond his resources. —Mr Paynter said' they had not the hawthorn in America where fruit was grown. He explained that the notice required the hedges to be cut. and burnt, by the end or March, but the Government, had published a notice extending the lime to those who may apply up lo the end of July next. In reply to Mr Harbutt it was stated that the first outbreak look place at Tauranga in December, 1919, and it was discovered in Waikato that same month. Safety zones would not be considered elective was the opinion of Air Paynter. Mr Cunningham added that they had practically no safely zones in U.S.A. Jn answer to Me Young, it was staled that the Mental Hospital near Kihikihi was the most southerly point at which iin 1 blight had been found. The great natural zone between Waikato and Hawke's Bay and Wellington and Taranaki should he sufficient to prevent the spread of the disease, provided no person wilfully conveyed infection to those parts. Mr Young then asked what good purpose could be served in cutting down hundreds of miles of hawthorn hedges in the Waikato to save fruit trees in the South Island and Hawkc s Bay when there could be no menace. Mr Paynter said lie was glad this point was raised, as he personally refuse,! to assume responsibility, which must, be thrown back on Ihe Minister and his Department. In reply to a further question. Mr Pavnter thought it only fair that the fruit industry should be asked lo con. tribute lo a fund to compensate the Waikato fanners.

The chairman stated that the loss of the shelter hedges would, mean a serious loss to the dairy farmers, as it. would put their grass and cows back at least a month, and the loss would continue until new hedges came on. Mr Jas. Taylor considered the Government was imposing an impossible task to expect the settlers to cut and burn their hedges. He was informed that the line was £2O for not cutting and burning hedges. He had from 15 to 20 miles of live fences, and he would rather pay £2O fifty times over than cut his hedges as they were of so great a value to his stock and pastures. Mr Cunningham, in answer to Mr Young, admitted that the Department had not attempted any original research in the matter of treating the disease since it was first discovered in the Dominion. The best scientific minds of America could not discover any effective treatment; therefore, with an understaffed Department in New Zealand they had not attempted anything in the nature of original research respecting fire blight. In answer to a further question by Mr M. Butler it was staled that- the Government, sent Dr. Cockayne to U.S.A., also Mr Campbell, to study diseases, pests, and orchard conditions. Resolution.

After other questions had been answered, the chairman moved, and Mr .1. S. fisher seconded, the following resolution:—-"Seeing the serious loss entailed upon the dairy farmers, particularly in the Waikato, owing to the order of the Horticultural Department t. cut down all hawthorn hedges, the Minister of Agriculture be requested to visit this portion of the Auckland province to meet the farmers at an early date, and to see for himself its serious nature, and thresh the matter out, and that meanwhile he be requested to stay the hands of his inspectors." The motion was carried unanimously.

<>n the motion of Messrs Robert Fisher and Jas. Taylor votes of thanks were accorded the two Government officials and Ihe M.P. for the district for their attendance.

Mr Young undertook lo telegraph the resolution to the Government.