FIFTEEN POUNDS FINE.

Putaruru Press, Volume IV, Issue 122, 4 March 1926, Page 6

FIFTEEN POUNDS FINE.

j EXPENSIVE BLACKBERRIES | ! Okauia Owner In Trouble. i ! The substantial fine of £ls, with 7s costs, was imposed on Mrs. E. Rutherford, owner of a piece of land at Okauia, by Mr. John H. Salmon, S.M., at the Matamata Court on Wednesday, for failure, after repeated notifications, to clear away blackberry from the land, as required under the provisions of the Noxious Weeds Act. Harry Cleland, Government Stock and Noxious Weeds Inspector, who appeared for the prosecution, gave evidence of having sent repeated notices to the owner, but these had not been complied with.. The case was a glaring one, and the results of neglect were likely to be damaging to the surrounding farm lands, inasmuch as Okauia was comparatively well under control in respect of blackberry, and the patch referred to was likely to prove a seeding bed for neighbouring farms, the seeds being carried afar by. the wind and the birds. Moreover, the area of blackberry was not so large as to piake it an expensive matter to comply,'* for one man should be able to do what was required within a fortnight. The defendant had been fined £3 last year on a similar charge. Local bodies and farmers generally were becoming gravely alarmed at the spread cf noxious weeds, and drastic measures required to be enforced in pronounced cases. Is there no power under the Act whereby you can have the blackberries cleared and the cost made a charge an the land? Mr. Cleland: Yes; we will have to do that next.

His Worship said the case appeared to him to be a flagrant one, meriting a severe penalty. He would impose a fine of £ls.