WHITE BUTTERFLY

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 9, 11 March 1938, Page 3

WHITE BUTTERFLY

INCREASE IN OTAGO COUNCIL PAYING BOUNTY At its meeting recently the Waihemu County Council received definite /confirmation of. tlie spread of the white butterfly to its district, when accounts ampuntiiig to nearly £xoo were paid as . the' result ot. the council’s (offer to pay 6d a-, dozen :'f or the pests. > The number of butterflies caught, since the previous meeting of the council was. not far short of 4.2,C00.. Not only™ children, but men and women* also, seized the opportunity of making a little extra, pocket money and the continued spell of hot weather was favourable for the chase. The record individual catch reported by one councillor was 1275 butterflies captured off a three-acre paddock Vof rape. / .' . , Two meetings ago t-lie' councillors, having noticed a fe# butterflies about, offered a reward of Id each. At the following meeting/£lO was pail out. on this account// and the council decided to reduce '"the reward to one lialf-penny each. At the meeting Air. Ross moved that 6d. per 100 be paid{ for the re mainder of the hot weather. Hie motion was carried, the chairman remarking that the price might have- been too big, but the children were now in the habit of catching ifie butterflies. A motion that a supply of parasites he procured from tlie Cawtlnym Institute also was carried.