SPREADING DISEASE BY AIR

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 62, 31 March 1937, Page 14

SPREADING DISEASE BY AIR

Dangers oi Long-Distance Flights PRECAUTIONS IN N.Z.What effect has the advancement of av" acion. on the sprea J of diseass? Tlris question,. which has heen a very liVe one, partieularly among farmus ai1^ breeders in countries of the world linwed by air with other countries, is not ouj which, has troubled the minds of New Zealand farmers, but tho fligjht of the Clipper ship:from Attierica to New Zealand brings the problem right to our door-step'. • Discussing this aspect of aviatipp, a correspondent in a northern exchange writes : The linking ■ of New Zealand with AmeriCa.and other countries may mean a ' certain ' stimulus to the Dominion's ' trade' ih some directions, but on tlie other . hand they inay be .fraught with peril.jbo the -New Zealand dairying industry. There. can be no doubt that in the past . inuch • disease has been intrcduced into this country hy steamers coming froxn other countries. Biit this danger is even more real in the case of the aeroplane, for if there is any disease germs on. board they will be in'ar much more active condition on arrival by reason of the shorter timo taken in travel. o ' f Hawaiian ' Experience. Shortly after the San Francisco-Phil-lippine trans-Pacific air serviee. was commenced, it was discovered the planes on arrival at Honolulu from the East, carried numbers of living and vigorous insects not found in the Hawaiian Islands. It was shown that some of these insects were potential pests of sug«ir-cane and otlier economically valuable plants cultivated in the islands. The presence of such insects in the trans-ocean planes was at once seen to constitute a serious menace to the agriculture of Hawaii and accordingly it was arranged to have an experienced entomologist at one of the islands on the airways route to remove all the insects from the planes before the.y reached Hawaii,. Since the entoinojogist commenced his work, it is believed that 'planes are free from potentially dangerous living insects when they arrivo at Honolulu from the East. That the risk of introducingVforeign'' pests b.y means of the ■ air serviee is a very real one, , is suggested by the - fact :that in the

V • f #■ Island of Guam a fly which is a senous pest of certain vegetables, and which occurs in hoth Hawaii and the Philippineps, but was previously not reported in Guam, has been discovered there since the air serviee started. Australian Preoautions. To check the entry of nndesirable "foreign'» ineecte into Australia the 'planes, while at Koepang in Timor, the last port of call of the 'planes of tho England-Australian air mail serviee en route to Australia, are sprayed with an insecticide to destroy any insects they may contain and so prevenfc fhem reaching Darwin alive. Each 'plane is required to carry a certifiate that this is done, and should a certificate not be produced, spraying is carried out immediately upon arrival at Darwin. Thus the danger of introducing disease into New Zealand is obyiousi and it is to be"hoped that, before any transocean air services are commenced here, arrangements will be completed to have the 'planes made free of insects and any disease germs immediately on arrival. Such action could possibly be taken at Kingman reef, prior to th© last hop to Auckland