INSECT PESTS.

Hokitika Guardian, 30 September 1926, Page 4

INSECT PESTS.

EM PORTED IN TIMBER. ' AUCKLAND. September 28. Insect pests, including a destructive ‘ type of borer, are being introduced into I New Zealand in imported timber, ac- , coiding to a statement hv Professor 11. 11. Corbin, Professor ol Forestry at Auckland University College. Addressing the Auckland Institute. I lie said: "The insect menace does not ' diminish in this country, by reason of ' the fact that pests are being imported : in sawn timber, poles, piles and pos- ■ siblv in other ways. The outcome of - these avoidable importations is difficull 1 to foretell. Any one or all of them may secure a hold or they may not. On 1 .May 24. ill company with -Mr Harnett, fruit iusnector at Auckland. I visited the central wharf and saw eucalyptus piles in large numbers,, quite good piles, recently taken off the Ulimaroa, which had arrived from Sydney on May 19. By lifting the hark from a portion ol one or two of these piles, we obtained seventy-four larvae or grubs ol a destructive wood-boring longieorn beetle. It is correct to say that most of the piles were infected. “ The importation of these pests > s a serious menace generally to our forests and trees and timber. There are several methods of effective control. but the manner, first of all. needs dose consideration generally, followed by definite action. The whole thing is very serious. •• 1 have it oil good authority that the virulent wood-destroying white ant has been imported in a way similar to the beetles already mentioned, and that in the Dominion it has colonised, wintered here and swarmed after the I manner of white ants in summer. I W'-at the cost of this importation will I he in the end it is impossible to ostiI mate if it once really gets acclimatised Land established. It is sincerely hoped that it will not, but the risk is very great. The economic loss to any country where it is established, such as Lidia or Australia, would he estimated only ill millions of pounds sterling annually.'’ Professor Corbin added that in entomological control there appeared to he ample scope for new ideas and for investigations on new linos-