KEEPING OUT PESTS.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9154, 29 July 1908, Page 4

KEEPING OUT PESTS.

Last week a telegram from Auckland stated that a Government inspector of imported fruit had found that a consignment of imported barley—about three hundred bags—had been landed in a badly diseased condition, the grain having been certified to as not coming from a fly-infected district. The Inspector, according to the telegram, found that he had no power to destroy the grain, hut he made the best arrangement he could in the interests of the farming com munity, by having the whole consignment placed in a freezing chamber, with the consent of the consignees. It was stated that if this particular fly gets a hold in New Zealand it would be ruinous to agriculturists. It seems extraordinary that an official should be given the power to order ad lib the destruction of foreign fruit, the good or bad condition of which affects only the buyer and seller, as New Zealand is not essentially a fruit-growing country, and yet when a serious menace to one of our chief industries is discovered the said official is powerless. It is apparent that inspectors should be qualified to examine both fruit and grain—in fact any importations which might bring destruction in the train unless a vigilant watch is kept. Putting grain in a freezer to kill a deadly fly is 1 at best an experiment, and it is wonderful what vitality some germs possess when they have only extreme cold to contend with. Farmers will not feel safe when they read that such ineffective steps are being taken to safeguard their interests.