NOXIOUS WEEDS AND RABBIT PESTS.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 8, Issue 478, 30 May 1919, Page 4

NOXIOUS WEEDS AND RABBIT PESTS.

Enforcing Legislation. The application of the Acts in reference to noxious weeds and the rabbit pest is to be very stringent in the near future. Instead of a magistrate having the power to decide whether or not a person has endeavoured to comply with the law, this power is now solely in the hands of the inspector. If, in the opinion of this official, a reasonable attempt has not been made to oomply with the Act, then the magistrate has no option but to convict. And it is not necessary for the inspector to send out notices—a person is liable, notice or no notice.

In regard to weeds, such as blackberries, a property owner must also clear those in front of his property to half the width of the road. The maximum penalty is £IOO. PHILOSOPHIC VIEW.

Speaking of noxious weeds at an address to the Philosophical Sooiety in Palmerston North recently, Mr P. Black referred to the non-adminis-tration of the Act. The truth of the matter was, he said, that if the provisions of the Act were properly enforced they would all be locked up with the exception of the noxious weeds inspectors. To his mind the only effective method of keeping weeds under subjection was the economic law, which compelled every landholder to make the maximum use of the land under his control. The condition obtained in the other lands of Europe, where land was cut up into small areae, and where the economic stress compelled the owners to make the very best use of it. It was easy to make a living off a thousand acres, but not quite so easy off a hundred acres. It took skill and ability to make a living off 50 acres or less, and the man with only that small quantity of land could not afford to have a portion of it down in weeds.