OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

Putaruru Press, Volume VII, Issue 287, 9 May 1929, Page 4

OTHER PAPERS’ OPINIONS.

THE RAGWORT FARCE, The cavalier treatment meted out by Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., to the representative of the Department of Agriculture in the Matamata Court recently should surely bestir a Government department, which has lost the faith of many farmers, to a more businesslike activity than has yet been realised. One caonot say what was passingthrough the Magistrate’s mind during the t’me he was criticising the Department and dismissing case after case brought against farmers for failure to clear ragwort, but nevertheless certain facts stand out which should be noted. In the first place it is not to be expected that an Inspector of Noxious Weeds, no matter how good an inspector he may be, is a trained advocate, and though comments were made from the Bench on the manner in which the cases were presented, reading between the lines it would appear that the sting of the comments was meant for a higher source. The departmental representative, in addressing the Bench, stated that his instructions were to prosecute those farmers in clean country who had only a few plants, and were not

keeping their farms clear. These remarks were amplified by the statements that farmers had been demanding prosecutions and that now that prosecutions were brought “ we would see how we got on.” How .he Department got on soon became evident, for, quite rightly, the Department fared badly. It is not too much to say that the whole ragwort question has been bungled badly. Instead of being tackled in a systematic and busi-ness-like manner, it has simply been trifled with. Instead of moving in j the matter and carrying out the j duties expected of it, the Department had to be dragooned into ac- | tion by sheer force of public opinion. When officialdom was ultimately roused from its slumber the season was past and the damage done for this year. Then, no doubt with sleep still •in official eyes, a most unjust view was taken, and only a few farmers selected for prosecution, and these not the most guilty—the bigger sinner being allowed to escape and propagate the weed without let or hindrance. Other minor errors, such as clerical mistakes in the notices, lack of sufficient time to clear, were also committed, so that the whole history of the Department’s efforts in fighting the pesc—with the exception of liberating a moth which has yet to prove its worth—is a very sorry exhibition of official ineptitude, and on a parallel with the Circumlocution Office as described by Charles Dickens.

The inspector has our sympathy, despite his lapses in an unaccustomed position. He is hut the tool and was but obeying instructions. In dismissing everyone of the defended cases, the Magistrate has handed out an ice-cold douche in sufficient quantities to have aroused the most somnambulent in any ordinary walk of life, but whether it will have any effect on the official mind remains to bo seen.

Matamata farmers have been peculiarly unfortunate in the dicta enunciated by Government officials. The land has been damned, references to cattle-tick proved to be astray, forms allowed to be isolated by tree-planting on dairying land, and finally this ragwort fiasco. It is to be hoped that the Hon. Minister of Lands, in announcing his new policy, will see to it that Departmental heads are brought into closer touch with actualities, and that full meed of justice is done to local farmers by way of some slight recompense for the mis-judgments of the past. . -- The demeanour of the Hon. Mr. Forbes during his visit to this, district indicated that he was strong enough to break through red tape, and his pronouncement on the result of his visit is awaited with interest. It is hoped that it will result in such happenings as that which occurred at the Matamata Police Court being obviated in future.—Matamata Record.