A DISEASE GARDEN. 
By JOHN THOMSON, M.B. 
Read hefore the Royal Society of Queensland, 27th May, 1905. 
In Queensland there is a Local Authorities Act, and the 
people enjoy the privilege—if there be any—of Local Govern- 
ment, and, of course, they have to pay for this; but, whether 
they get the value of their money is quite another matter. 
Under heavy penalties they have to keep their allotments 
and their lands free from certain weeds and plants declared 
to be noxious and a nuisance. I presume they are so declared 
because, at present, they serve no economic purpose. Any- 
how, the ratepayers have to destroy these pests, and I think 
they don’t. 
I may safely, sav 
The Brisbane By-laws of the Local Authorities Act 
mention some thirty-two of these Noxious Weeds, and lest 
there be any mistake, refer to them in the vulgar and in the 
classic tongues. 
Undoubtedly, these apparently useless samples of vege- 
table life are a nuisance, and to let them take root and spread 
is simply to let them take possession of the land, and rob the 
human owners. 
But noxious as these weeds may be, they are harmless, 
in comparison with other weeds which are responsible for an 
immensity of the disease which attacks and slays mankind, 
and to combat these enemies, another act—The Health Act— 
‘operates, and like the Local Authorities Act, it advertises a 
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