PURE SEEDS BILL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1532, 30 August 1912, Page 8

PURE SEEDS BILL.

[ SOME SUGGESTIONS. The committee appointed by tho Canterbury Provincial Agricultural Conference to make suggestions as to provisions that should be included in any Pure Seeds Bill havo niado the following recommendations and forwarded them to the Minister for Agriculture:— 1. That no seed shall bo sold for sowing" that contains any Californinn or Canadian thistle, sweetbriar, blackberry, dodder, tritienm repens. 2. That a seed merchant soiling seed in . quantities of 51b. or over should bo compelled to seal tho bag , containing the seed and mark it with a distinctive mark. Corresponding to this mark, ho shall furnish a certificate stating percentage of purity, germination, and utility, and shall ailso state the. kinds of impurities present in the seed. 3. All. merchants selling seed for sowing shall seal the bags in some specified manner, and mark the bags with some distinctive mark. Stock inspectors and other authorised persons may take samples, in the presence ,of a witness, of all seeds from bags still closed and sealed, whether these bags are at stores, or railway stations, etc., or (with the owner's permission) from the buyer's stores. lie riiay then obtain from the buyer a copy of the seller's certificate in respect of the bags sampled and send sample and certificate to the Government sml analyst. All such samples must be taken within two weeks of tho delivery of tho seed. Tho seed analyst , shall prepare a table showing the seller's name and seller's certificate, and the truo analysis .side by side. This table shall be published, and no action for libel shall lie. i. That the Government shall have power to hold up at any port of entry any imported seed intended for sowing which contains noxious weeds. The committee also suggest that a clause bo inserted in the Noxious Weeds Act to admit of the'fining of any person who sells hay, chaff, or fodder containing seeds of noxious woeds. •