Prickly Pear Wastes Reclaimed

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 23, 11 February 1937, Page 12

Prickly Pear Wastes Reclaimed

BRISBANE.' — The Department of Public Lands now claima that the prickly pear menace has been overcome and the devastation it wrought over 26,000,000 acres of the State a decade ago is now becoming merely a memory. The havoc which the spread of prickly pear left in its wake, the plight of settlers, the devastation of the countryside, the seemingly impossible task of stopping the spread, all these are nearly forgotten. All this has been due to a tiny insect, Cactoblastis cactorum, assisted by the coehineal insect. During the year ended June 30, 1936, there has been great activity over a considerable portion of the reclaimed area by settlers who have taken up dairying, grazing and other agrarian pursuits. The land seized by the prickly pear was extremely fertile, hence its rapid spread; now that the pear has been beaten farmers have access to lands that will produce in abundance. In one district, Boonargo, near CMnchilla, the farmers in their gratitude to the Cactoblastis, have erected a memorial hall in its honour. Since the passing of the Prickly Pear Land Acts Amendment Act o'f 1930 17,292,692 acres of reclaimed land have been opened for settlement and of that area 16,119,533 acres have been taken up. The result has been that millions of acres have been ringbarked, tanks excavated or sub-artesian bores sunk, fences erected, and other lmprovements made, brmging prosperity where there was a few yeaTs ago a wilderness of pear and scrub. THE SPORTSMAN Two crack golfers had sliced their balls into the rough. They searched for their balls a long time without suceess. After a .quarter of an hour or so, a ltindly old lady who had been watehing the search, came up and spoke to one of them. "Excuse me, sir," she said, "would it be cheating if I told you where they are?" S> S> S> $> SOME CAR The man who had sold the ear to Albert had assured him that he should be surprised at the speed of it. When he found himself in a quiet country lane he decided to give it a l'eal test, pressed hard on the aceelerator, and felt the car leap forward like a bullet from a gun. The speedometer raced round like a clock gone mad. Telegraph poles became a hazy, Wooden fenee. Then came a Crash, and he awoke later in a hospital bed. It was earnival day at the hospital, and Albert caught sight of three students dressed as JRed Indians. He gaped at them through his bandages, Ms eyes aglow with Wondfef ment. "Indians!" he gasped. "Great keavens! What a car!"