“BLACKBIRDS A CURSE”

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 3258, 3 May 1943, Page 5

“BLACKBIRDS A CURSE”

SPREADING BLACKBERRY SEED MATAMATA COUNTY PROBLEM The fact that blackbirds were becoming a curse in the Matamata ■county owing to the great increase in their numbers .in recent years . and their, penchant for spreading blackberry seeds was stressed at the .April meeting of the Matamata County Council during a discussion on the monthly report of the inspector of noxious weeds. Cr. C. H. La Trobe said that there did not seem to be enough energy displayed in keeping blackberry and gone in check. Here and there

were bushes .which were allowed to increase into big patches.

Cr. A. Wallace supported these comments. *

The chairman commented that going back a few years the council decided that ragwort whs the chief danger and it concentrated on this. He agreed with the comments made and was glad that the inspector had put in the last paragraph. Cr. G. H. Verity commen l ed that blackbirds carried the seeds of blackberries all over the place. The engineer remarked that blackbirds were becoming a curse. They ate the grub of the moth which killed ragwort. It would astonish people if they counted the number of blackbirds in a mile of road during the evening. Members agreed that blackbirds were becoming a curse in the county, and the chairman concluded the short discussion by remarking facetiously that they could not hold farmers responsible for the number of black- | birds on their farms.