178 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



June 3, 1916. 



Notifiable Pests and Diseases. It would appear 

 ■desirable that the main body of any Ordinance 

 should not be encumbered with lengthy details. 

 These could be better dealt with in schedules and 

 regulations made under the Ordinance. A matter 

 ■of importance in connexion with the operation of such 

 legislation is the fact that the serious nature of the 

 trouble may entail grave consequences, as for example, 

 it may be necessary in the last resort for the Govern- 

 ment to take over the infected land so as to afford 

 ■adequate protection. It would be important that 

 regulations should have ample consideration before 

 being brought into effect, and in view of this, additions 

 to the list of Notifiable Pests and Diseases and the 

 regulations relating to them should be made by the 

 •Governor, with the approval of the Legislative Council. 



Examples of such diseases as should be made notifi- 

 able are the Panama disease of bananas, and bud rot of 

 coco-nut palms. At the end of the paper under review 

 two draft orders are given containing provisions, 

 according to the above ideas, for the control of these 

 -diseases. 



order the magistrate would have the opportunity of 

 learning from evidence whether the undertaking of 

 remedial or preventive measures is practicable, and he 

 would also avail -himself of the advice of scientific 

 officers of the Agricultural Department, which is an 

 integral part of all governmental machinery in well 

 regulated communities, and especially so in the 

 tropics. Penalties should attach to any neglect to 

 comply with the magisterial order. It is thought, 

 however, that an extreme course of action like that 

 just described would generally be found unnecessary, 

 for cultivators in most cases would be ready to take 

 steps. Power to enforce action must nevertheless be 

 provided for. The above method has special advantages; 

 it allows of each case being dealt with on its merits, 

 and permits the application of the be.st knowledge 

 existing up to time of enquiry. In view of the change 

 in ideas resulting from research, any hard and fast 

 plant disease legislation can never be eflScient in 

 practical operation. There must always be provision 

 for dealing with cases according to the knowledge of 

 the times; in other words, plant legislation must to 

 a certain extent be elastic. 



Turning now to the second class of pests and 

 <]iseases, which are those infectious and liable to do 

 harm, but not of such danger as to render it necessary 

 to make them notifiable, it is easily seen that the 

 operation of the law is less easy owing to the less 

 definite and circumscribed nature of the troubles to be 

 dealt with. As regards means of ascertaining the 

 occurrence of such diseases, examples of which are 

 love vine, bleeding stem disease of coco-nuts, locusts, 

 parasol ants, etc., it is stated in the paper that regular 

 Inspectors having adequate authority must be 

 appointed, and these Inspectors would, in the course 

 of their duties, obtain information as to the occurrence 

 ■of these plant maladies. As soon as the existence of 

 an infectious, but non-notifiable disease is known, the 

 Inspector should inform the owner of the crop what 

 measures should be taken. Generally this will suffice, 

 and the owner will follow the advice. If there is 

 neglect, however, there are two lines of action open 

 to the Government, each depending upon the circum- 

 stances of the case. If there appears to be no likeli- 

 hood that the disease can spread from the infected 

 area, the owner may be left to his own devices. 

 Where, however, the neglect is likely to lead to injury 

 resulting to other people, tbe Inspector, or other 

 authority, should have power to apply to a magis- 

 trate for an order directing the person to take 

 ■steps to remedy the matter. Before granting the 



In accordance with this idea, the list of infectious 

 but not notifiable diseases will from time to time be 

 modified, depending on the degree of prevalence and 

 virulence of such diseases, and, owing to the lesser 

 gravity of the matter, these alterations may conveni- 

 ently be made by the Governor-in-Executive Council 

 without reference to the general legislative body. It 

 is obviously important that cultivators should be 

 informed by the Agricultural Department as to the 

 appearance and nature of all pests and diseases, in 

 order that they themselves may assist the Govern- 

 •ment in giving elifect to legislation for the general 

 good. 



Dr. Watts's paper concludes with a consideration 

 of another aspect of the control and spread of planb 

 diseases, namely. Quarantine. All plants imported 

 should be subject to inspection by officers appointed 

 for the purpose. It often happens, however, that the 

 presence of diseases in imported material cannot 

 possibly be detected by ordinary' inspection. Power 

 should, therefore, be given to enable the authorities to 

 place the plant suspected for a specified time in 

 a Government Quarantine Station, or the importer 

 might be permitted, perhaps, to put the plant in 

 some approved place in which it would be sub- 

 ject to inspection by a properly qualified officer of 

 the Government. A further aspect of the same 



