A WEED.

Manawatu Herald, 24 December 1889, Page 3

A WEED.

Spencer makes the remaik " What more feHcitie can fall to creature than to enjoy delight with libertie, and to be lord of all the workes of nature," and apparently the same feeling actuated the action of the fite young men at Auckland the other day who were charged with setting fire to flax and fern. To the owner however their action was no joke, nor could he be got to appreciate the " libertie " of the act, and therefore sued them in the Supreme Court for the damage occasioned by their act. • The shock he must have sustained at the ruling of the judge who dismissed the charge will be equally felt by eveiy owner of flax in this district. Judge Connelly is reported to have stated " that flax is a weed, and not a cultivated product; therefore the destruction of flax could not be brought under the Malicious Injury to Property' Act." .If this is correct, the sooner an alteration of the law is made, the better for the colony, for though the Phormium Teuax mny be a weed, in the strict legal sense, it may soon become a "cultivaied product and those who are likely to be guilty of such reckless conduct will find it hard to distinguish be* tween the " weed " and the " cnlti* vated" plant Why. however, it .should be lawful for any person to dcs'roy weeds or ferns on auother ownc*3 property, without fear of consequences' appears strange, and we imagine that the telegram, which is Very meagre, can only refer to tta opinion of the judge as to the pro ceedings taken under the act men■l-*-'-. .- ...•■-•■

i tioncd, i.nd not as establishing any > right to per-ons to burn aud destroy, 1 as they may feel disused. We draw attention to the telegram na in its present slato it may have the effecr of encouraging larrikins or ovil-disposed-porsons to acts winch they would otherwise hot contompl«te, for fear o£ punishment. "\Ye <&1 assured iiiat if the t'ction iiu'der " The Malicious Injury to Property Act" failed there are other Acts -uen ias that for trespass, and also j civil process for danv-gos, which j can be at once; resorted to. That the iii'sfc useful plant in New Zealand should be designated and treated as weed, is most unsatisfactory, a« no other of nature's products have been the means of the employment of so much unskilled labour as the flax. No Aisfcruction of any other crop would be so instantaneously felt for <*vil, us the stoppage of the supply of flax, and as the crop is so easily destroyed by lire, for two or three years, legislation is urgently needed to make stringent penalties for the careless or malicious destroying of it. A very large population is deeply interested in this weed, aud wo trust bur legislators will watch ovev its preserva tion*