NATIONALISING PESTS.

Shannon News, 3 April 1925, Page 4

NATIONALISING PESTS.

RABBITS AND PRICKLY I'EAKA very interesting thing is to study the evolution in Australia of a pest nto a national industry (says the qvdney correspondent of the CimstSSS 'W'). The rabbits flrst became a menace to the faimer anu Sen a source of revenue t^tmpper*• furriers and frozen meat Pe?Ple- in «J man who produced a reliable and Sfe remedy that would wipe out the rabbit £ aweek would get a poor reception in quarters to-day next pestilence to become, a Hlpwinsr to some people was the wim Sog tVs° sneaking plague, has com oletely depopulated parts of Western New South Wales, both of sheel.and men, bS since the Government startaA a camoaign, ostensibly or ex t e e d rm?na a tio? m ,nd^ , offering large premiums for scalps, a army of dog-shooters.has apeared, and as in thp case of the rabbits carelul_ measures will be taken to maintain the Svn does by breeding and fos-

tering of the females. The latest pest to be suggested as one of our great national resources is thi pricklvfear. which is in effective occupation of 60,000,000 acres ot Australian soil, and is advancing at tne rate of 1,000,000 acres per annum In some places it is so thick SaT'the? mosquitoes can't fly through it The hope that it could be eliminated and in the process converted into industrial alcohol at a profit, has, however, been dashed by scientific investigation. An average of 10 tons of pear go to the acre—m Queensland it is* as high as 1000 tonj-jand even to hold the terrible a state of suspended, animatiOEl wouM require the uprooting, cutting, and transporting to the factories of 10 V 000,000 tons of vegetable matte . There is obviously not enough labour available in Australia for such a task and as it does -not pay the in dl S e , n ? us worker it is not likely ,to attract the method which is actually in operation is the invention of a returned soldier. It is something; likea wartime tank and tramples down and poisons the pear as itSoes.Tlie crushed matter is then Ploughed in, and within a year good crops, have Seen grown on land that previouslywas a hideous barbed wire entangle- | me'at, impenetrable to man or beast. As however, tie daily rate of spread is stated to be 2800 acres, this is obviously only nibbling at the problem. A curious circumstance in connection with this cataclysmic growth is that here and there in the .vast sea of devastation there are little oases, and airplanes flying over them have seen little herds of cattle and horses that have interbred in the confines of i their vegetable prison for so long that they have almost formed a new species. , ■, The old lady who does the chores for us, and who knows more about the back country of New South Wales and Queensland than all the Ministers for Lands since responsible government, tells me that the pear was first introduced into this State by an English farmer who planted it with the idea that it would prevent scurvy among his shepherds. His domestic servant on /the way out was warned to guard its life with more than she would bestow on the custody of her mistress's jewellery, and when he finally reared it and it died during a drought he sacked his garde'ner for neglect. Nevertheless a timely flood had carried a piece down the Hunter River, and it was not long before the shepherds had their cure for scurvy ready to their hand on every stock route. I give this story for what it ia worth, but even if its details are apocryphal it is in the main quite true } to type. I Reflecting on that fact I looked with ! a melancholy interest the other day at a nightmarish-looking specimen of the genus pear carefully being cultivated in the Sydney Botanical Gardens. "A harmless little specimen which is reared in pots in South America," the inscription read; but remembering the sedulous way New Zealand and Australia have been populated by imported pests, animal and vegetable, that were reared in I pots or fostered in bird-cages in the | country of their origin, I had my doubts.