GOATSRUE.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLI, Issue 2040, 11 October 1919, Page 3

GOATSRUE.

MANAWATU COUNTY COUNCIL'S ATTITUDE.

At the meeting of the Manawatu County Council on Tuesday a letter was read from the Foxton Chamber of Commerce, stating that the declaration of goatsrue a> a noxious weed was a matter for the local bodies, and asking the Council to take steps to declare it as such under the Act.

Several Councillors expressed the cpinioii liiat it would he useless for (lie Comieil to declare the pest a noxious weed under the circumstances. Il was agreed that many farms in the Moitloa district were being overrun with the pest, Imp while i! was conlinually coming down the river with every Hood it would he impossible for any steps to be taken at this end to cope witli the pest. It was pointed out that the seed came from (lovernmenl land in the upper readies of the Manawatu Gorge, while in the vicinity of Woodville there was a large urea of: land covered with the weed, which vests also a fruitful source of supply. It was eventually decided that, taking these circumstances into consideration, the Council could not see its way to penalise the ratepayers in the County hy declaring goatsrne a noxious weed, while no steps were taken for its eradication at the main source of supply.

(V. S. R. Lancaslcr, a! Tuesday night’s meeting of the- Palmerston Borough Council, referred to the presence of goatsrue in the borough, saying that it was becoming the worst weed in the country. The weed, he said, was spreading in the borough, being brought on to the streets in the metal carted from the river bank. On his suggestion, the engineer was instructed to gel the workmen to destroy the weed whenever thev see it.