eeport on working of vegetation diseases act. 23 



Export of Fruit. 

 The export trade in fruit to the other colonies has 

 been very large, and demands constant attention by the 

 inspectors. The Governments of other colonies insist 

 on fruit received from Victoria being accompanied by 

 a certificate from our inspectors that it is free from dis- 

 ease when shipped. This entails a great deal of work on 

 our staff. So as not to put the exporter to inconvenience 

 much of this inspection has to be done outside oflSce 

 hours, at all times during daylight. 



General Remarks. 



On the whole we find that the Vegetation Diseases Act 

 has been of great benefit to the colony. Monthly reports 

 from inspectors to the Board show that growers are fully 

 alive to the importance of producing nothing but sound 

 and clean fruits. They are always willing to adopt sug- 

 gestions made by the inspectors, and show great appreci- 

 ation of the trouble taken to afford them instruction, not 

 only in the orchard, but also by means of lantern lectures. 

 It is only fair to the inspectors to say that they have 

 shown much aptitude for their work. The scope of our 

 inspection is much more advanced than that of the other 

 colonies, Tasmania and South Australia with Victoria 

 being the only ones which make orchard inspection a 

 feature of their work. 



It has been found that there are many plants gro wing- 

 in our public parks, gardens, and reserves diseased ; 

 and a thorough inspection of these has been made, the 

 attention of the curators in each instance being directed 

 to the urgent necessity of eradication of all disease. 

 There are also many private gardens in the colony, 

 both large and small, in which occur a few fruit trees. 

 Many of these cases, which are amongst the worst, are 

 being dealt with, but owing to their being numerous and 

 so scattered, the matter of dealing with them is necessarily 

 diflScult, and they will take some time to be eftectively 

 dealt with. 



