Prickly Pear Wastes Reclaimed

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 31, 6 February 1937, Page 9 (Supplement)

Prickly Pear Wastes Reclaimed

BRISBANE.—Tho Department of Public Lands now claims that the prickly pear menace has been overcome and the devastation it wrought over 26,000,000 acres of the State a decade ago is now becoming merely u memory.

The havoc which the spread of prickly pear left in its wake, the plight of settlers, the devastation of the countryside, the seemingly impossible task of stopping the spread, all these are nearly forgotten. All this has been due to a tiny insect, Cactobiastis cactorum, assisted by tho cochineal insect. During the year ended June 30, 1936, there has been great activity over a considerable portion of the reclaimed area by settlers who have taken up dairying, grazing and other agrarian pursuits.

The land seized by the prickly pear was extremely fertile, hence its rapid spread; now that the pear has been beaten farmers have access* to lands that will produce in abundance. In one district, Boonargo, near Chinchilla, th& farmers in their gratitude to the Cactobiastis, have erected a memorial hail in its honour.

Biuce the passing of tho Prickly Pear Laud Acts Amendment Act ot 1930 17,292,692 acres of reclaimed land have been opened for settlement and of that area 16,119,533 acres have been taken up.

The result has been that millions of acres have been ringbarked, tanks excavated or sub-artesian bores sunk, reuces erected, ami other improvements made, bringing prosperity where there was a few years ago a wilderness of pear and scrub. THE SPORTSMAN Two crack golfers had sliced their balls into the rough. They searched for their balls a long time without success. After a quarter of an hour or so, a kindly old lady who had been watching the search, came up and spoke to one of them. “Excuse me, sir,” she said, “would it be cheating if I told you where tiiey are!” & 'S' SOME CAR The man who had sold the car to Albert had assured him that he should bo surprised at tho speed of it. When ho found himself in a quiet country laue he decided to give it a real test, pressed hard on the accelerator, and felt the car leap forward like .a bullet from a guu. The speedometer raced round like a clock goue mad. Telegraph poles became a hazy, wooden fence. Then came a crash, aud ho awoke later in a hospital bed. It was carnival day at tho hospital, and Albert caught sight of three students dressed as Rea Indians, lie gaped at them through his bandages, his eyes aglow with wonder ment. “Indians!” he gasped. “Great heavens! What a carl”