NOXIOUS WEEDS AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEM.

New Zealand Journal of Agriculture, Volume XV, Issue 4, 20 October 1917, Page 191

NOXIOUS WEEDS AS AN ADMINISTRATIVE PROBLEM.

F. S. POPE,

Secretary of Agriculture.

Paper read at the Annual Conference of the New Zealand Council of Agriculture, July, 1917.

It will be within the memory of many of those present at this conference that the Noxious Weeds Act of 1900 was made law as the result of long and persistent endeavours on the part of a number of leading farmers, who felt that some organized efforts to cope with the spread of weed pests in New Zealand was absolutely necessary. The essence of the Act is that any farmer who fails to adopt suitable measures to control his weeds and allows them to flower, and is therefore presumably going to allow them to spread seed on to other lands, may be directed by an Inspector to cut the weeds, and may be prosecuted should he fail to comply with this direction.

Had this enactment been preceded or even accompanied by a vigorous and enlightened policy. of education in regard to the best methods of coping with the spread of weeds enormous benefit would have resulted, and a discreet enforcement of the Act in the case of those who neglected to profit by the instruction afforded would doubtless have been of great value. Unfortunately, however, owing no doubt to lack of both the necessary trained officers and the needed finance, no such instructional campaign was attempted ; but Inspectors were appointed, and proceeded to insist on wholesale cutting of weeds, as they were, of course, bound to do both by the instructions under which they were working and by the force of public opinion. amongst those whose land was threatened with invasion by weeds from neighbouring infested country. It must, however, be clearly stated that the Inspectors have never attempted or been permitted to carry out their duties in road-roller fashion, but have always been required to exercise considerable discretion before recommending the prosecution of any landholder for failing to “ clear ” weeds. Such matters as the financial position of the occupier of the land, the availability of labour, the pressure of other farm operations, the state of the infested land in regard to timber, rocks, &c., have always been considered by the Inspectors, and no one has been called upon to undertake clearing where the work was impracticable. At one time the power to prosecute was in - the hands of the Inspectors themselves, and in the case

of a great majority of the officers was never abused; but after some years of experience it was found desirable to make a rule that the Inspectors were not to undertake prosecutions without the approval of the Director of the Fields Division, who, before agreeing to legal proceedings, invariably satisfies himself that the circumstances are such as to fully warrant extreme measures before these are taken. This arrangement results in greater uniformity of practice throughout the Dominion, and causes the Inspectors to be very sure that they have a good case before recommending a prosecution. It is not surprising, therefore, that it very seldom happens that, legal proceedings taken by the Inspectors are unsuccessful.

It will be observed that the Act provides that where weeds are allowed to flower the Inspector, may take action. Unfortunately,' however, there is a strong body of public opinion which considers that it is the duty of the Department to substitute the word “ shall ” for the word “ may ”in this connection. It is, of course, well known that one of the chief difficulties in connection with administering noxious-weeds legislation is that public opinion is sharply divided on the question. Those landholders whose properties are infested to. any considerable extent are strongly of the opinion that there should be no Government interference in this matter, and that they should be allowed to deal with their weeds, or neglect them, according to their own sweet will. Consequently they display considerable hostility, and in some cases extreme animus, when the Inspectors make any move in the direction of enforcing the clearing of the weeds. On the other hand, those, occupiers whose lands are reasonably free from weeds, and especially those who are in danger of infestation from other properties, are equally vigorous in insisting that the Act should be enforced, some of them even holding that no discretion should be used and that the Inspectors should carry out drastically the powers conferred upon them by the Act. It will therefore be seen that the Department is and must remain in this matter “ between the devil and the deep sea.” At one time the Department undoubtedly held the view that those landholders who opposed the enforcement of the Act represented the devil; at the present time, however, we recognize that if the opponent of the Act is the devil, at least the devil is not as black as he is painted. .In other words, there is a great deal to be said in favour of the view that over wide areas .the wholesale cutting of weeds is not only impracticable, but an altogether* uneconomical undertaking.

SUGGESTED AMENDMENTS TO THE NOXIOUS WEEDS ACT.

In these circumstances I am convinced that some drastic changes in the Act should be made whenever Parliament is in a position to

undertake ordinary legislation. The following are the principal directions in which I think the Act should be amended:—

(l.) The main, difficulty at present is that it is an offence to allow noxious weeds to flower (excepting, of course, in the case of large patches, in regard to which there are special provisions). The result is that wherever weeds are flowering the public is justified in saying that the Department is neglecting to enforce the Act. As there are multitudes of cases in which the Department does not feel justified in calling, on the occupier to prevent flowering, the present position is impossible. To remedy this I propose . that the Act should be amended to provide that no offence shall exist until the Inspector has notified the occupier that the weeds must be cleared. This would make it perfectly clear that the Department is legally entitled to exercise its discretion as to the cases in which 'clearing should be insisted upon, and would enable the Inspectors to accept from occupiers a definite promise to undertake specific measures, other than cutting, for the clearing of the weeds or a reasonable part ■. of them. For instance, if the occupier undertakes to lay down a certain area of the infested land in lucerne during the next season the Inspector could promise in return not to take any action in regard to the remainder of the weeds ; or it could be provided that the Inspector could issue a notice giving the occupier 'the option of clearing the whole of the weeds, or, in the alternative, of clearing a specified portion and sowing lucerne. Similarly, occupiers could be given the option to undertake approved methods of improving the pasture by top-dressing, surface-sowing, draining, or liming; or of fencing and stocking heavily; or of planting trees to combat the weeds. To avoid .unnecessary work in the giving of notices in regard to any districts where insisting on straight-out clearing is justified, provision should be made that notices published in local newspapers would be sufficient.

(2.) I should also like to see the Act amended to give the Department power, where . the circumstances warrant further work, to insist on something more than mere clearing. In many cases it is beyond dispute that the weeds should be grubbed or that the land should be . cultivated, and where that is so the Department should have power to insist on such action. Experience proves that occupiers who have been induced to take steps beyond mere clearing are afterwards grateful to the Department for its action, and bitterly regret that they were not so persuaded years before.

(3-) Another proposal I wish to bring forward is that the provisions of the Act in regard to clearing should not apply in cities, boroughs, and perhaps town districts, excepting in cases where the Inspector considers that the weeds are on land likely to be used for

agricultural purposes or are a menace to such land. Seeing that a good many city, borough, and town authorities have now had members of their own staffs appointed Inspectors under the Noxious Weeds Act for their own districts, it would perhaps be better to provide that, with the exception mentioned in the last paragraph, the provisions in regard to clearing shall not apply in such districts unless the local authority makes a special order to that effect; and that where such a special order is in force the administration of those provisions shall rest .with the local authority and not with the Minister.

(4.) A further proposal is that the country should be divided into areas, and that different requirements in regard to noxious weeds should be enforced in the several areas : . for instance, that in one area the Department should be able to insist upon cultivation or grubbing; in another area clearing should be enforceable as at present ; in a third area the matter might be left to the discretion of the officer. A few years ago I was in favour of amending the Act in this direction, but on further consideration I think it would be better to have these areas mapped out as a purely departmental arrangement to which the Inspectors should be instructed to work, which they would be enabled to do if the Act were amended as shown in clause (1) above. • • - ;

(5.) I think the present arrangement under which local authorities are allowed to decide which weeds shall be legally treated as noxious in their districts should be abolished. The fact that there would undoubtedly be opposition to this change is no reason why the Department should not ' advocate it. From time to time bitter complaints are . received from settlers to the effect that they are unable to persuade their local authority to declare, certain plants to be noxious, and that consequently . the Inspectors are powerless. I think the whole matter of the compulsory and locally optional schedules should be fully considered, and that additions should be made to the compulsory schedule; and, further, That the option should be with the . Governor-General in Council; and, moreover, that the nature of the option 7 should be reversed i.e., that the weeds should be compulsory in all districts except in any exempted by the Governor-General in Council.

(6.) If the present system of local option is to be continued, power should be given whereby any local authority that has declared a certain weed noxious may revoke its action.

(7.) If the present system of local option is maintained, Native Town Councils should be made local authorities.

(8.) The definition of “ occupier ” needs amendment. “ Occupier ” should, where necessary, cover the same persons as “ owner ” does in

the Rabbit Nuisance Act. In the Noxious Weeds Act “ occupier ” means “ every person in occupation of land, and includes the owner of . any land which is unoccupied or whereof the occupier is unknown or cannot be found.” In the Rabbit 'Nuisance Act “ owner ” means any person owning any estate or interest in any private land, or who by law for the time being regulating the recovery of rates is or may become liable to pay any rates leviable in respect of such private land, or any person in possession or occupation or in receipt of the rents or profits of any private land, or any agent, trustee, executor, or administrator of an owner.”

(9.) A provision of the present Act that gives rise to an immense amount of bitterness, f and in many cases to gross injustice, is the one which places upon occupiers the duty of clearing the weeds off half the road adjoining their land. For instance, there are cases where the local authorities in the course of roadmaking operations have themselves spread weeds over long distances along the road reserves, yet the adjoining occupiers are now saddled with the duty of keeping half the road clear. In numbers of other cases the weeds have spread naturally along the roads or have been carried by live? stock. Of course, on the other. hand, there are very numerous instances where the weeds have spread from the adjoining properties. Taking the whole matter into consideration,. I am strongly of opinion that the duty of clearing the weeds off the roads should rest upon the authorities responsible for the maintenance of the roads. It may be argued that the local authorities have not the necessary funds for this work, and would consequently neglect the weeds. The local ' authorities are, however, elected by the people, and I think the latter could be trusted to see that finance is provided and duly expended where the state of the roads in regard to weeds necessitates it. I therefore think that the Act should be amended by deleting the provision that occupiers shall. clear the roads adjoining their lands. 1

EDUCATIVE MEASURES FOR WEED-CONTROL.

Before concluding, I should like to mention that the Fields Division of the Department is doing everything possible in the present adverse circumstances to prepare for and carry out an educative campaign amongst the farmers in regard to the best means of coping with noxious weeds in different circumstances. The Dominion has been divided into nine districts, and in eight of these a Fields Supervisor has been located, the ninth district being supervised by the headquarters of the Division. Each of these Supervisors is an experienced man in agricultural operations, including the control of weeds, and they are doing all that is possible, with the assistance of the Fields

Inspectors, to impress upon farmers the best methods to adopt. In addition, a couple of dozen well-educated young men are now in training at the Central Development Farm, Weraroa, and these should, in the course of two or three years, provide a valuable addition to the Department’s expert staff in this direction. It will thus be seen that there is good reason to hope that the next few years will see a great deal of work done of a kind that will do more to really abate the weeds nuisance, and at the same time improve the farming practice throughout the Dominion, than all the cutting of noxious growths that has been carried out since the Act came into force.