NOXIOUS WEEDS.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVI, Issue 213, 9 March 1914, Page 6

NOXIOUS WEEDS.

ANOTHER PEST DIKCOVEKEI). SPIDERWOHT. AT MATAC. The attention of the Clifton County Council was occupied for some time on Friday discussing the prevalence of noxious weeds. Ragwort and blackberry are the two with which settlers here are most familiar, but there are others. The. noxious weeds schedule already contains quite a long list .of plants which have come under the liann, and every now and again local bodies are requested to have other weeds added to the list. The "discussion opened primarily with the spread of a so far unknown weed at Matati, and extended to numerous other known noxious weeds. By petition, thirteen settlers of Matau drew the Council's attention to the spread of a weed which was growing over the Matau school paddock, : id was spreading quickly over the district. They did not know its name, but they knew that if it were not checked it would become as bad a pest as blackberry. The only means of killing it was to grub it out. . The chairman of .the Education Board had, they said, pro•miscd to have it seen 10, but as nothing 'had been done they asked to have it declared a noxious weed. Mrs. 11. A. Moody, chairwoman of the Matau School Committee, also forwarded n School Committee resolution to the same effect. ' Mr. A. F. Wilson, Inspector of Noxious Weeds, wrote that the weed comI plained of was' a shrub known as 'dieycesteria formosa," belonging to the I -honeysuckle and elder family. ft was I'now common in many parts of New Zealand, and spread rapidly at the edges of bush and roadsides. Nothing had been recorded in the Dominion as to its properties, but it belonged to a family which included several poisonous plants. It was not included in the "Noxious Weeds Act, and he could not therefore enforce its clearing, but it rested with the local body to pass a resolution (0 have it included therein. Cr. Kcmiington spoke in support of the petition. The weed was locally known as spiderwort. It was spreading fast, and he noticed it in places right from Matau to Inglewood. Regarding its properties, he recollected that some five or six years ago a young child narrowly escaped death from eating some of its berries. The chairman was a bit chary about declaring it a noxious weed. He would like to know more about it. If everything that grew on a neglected bush ■burn were declared a noxious weed the list would be an enormous one. Cr. Kcmiington remarked that it was ■an imported weed. < On the motion of Crs. Kcmiington and Hicks, it was resolved to take steps to have "spiderwort" included in the noxious weeds schedule. ■ The Council then devoted a few minutes to discussing other noxious weeds. It was resolved to write and draw the •attention of the Public Trustee to the •spread of blackberry and ragwort on •native land in the Urenui district. • The chairman considered that it was ■useless having Inspectors unless they •went around the district and saw for -themselves. , Councillors, however, thought that the Council should strongly support the inspectors. '• The spread of pennyroyal and fennel -wew also referred to at some length, •and the attention of the inspector will be drawn to these.