PLANT DISEASE LEGISLATION 113 



There are few communities which would consent, or which 

 could afford to consent, to exclusion in any wide sense, but, as 

 regards any plant industry of considerable importance, the only 

 safe way is to reduce importations which have any visible con- 

 nection with the diseases of the plant concerned to the narrowest 

 possible limits. As regards the exclusion of known diseases, and 

 for general purposes, the effectiveness of regulation depends 

 on (i) the thoroughness with which the pests and diseases of the 

 country of origin are kept surveyed, (2) the promptness with 

 which information is communicated to those responsible, and 

 (3) the efficiency of the inspection cariied out. These are matters 

 which in turn depend on the organisation of agricultural depart- 

 ments and of co-operation between them, and the extent to which 

 they receive attention should govern the freedom of exchange 

 permitted. 



The regulations relating to the exclusion of plant diseases in 

 force at the present time in the islands of the Windward and 

 Leeward Groups comprise : — 



(i) Submission of all material imported for planting to 

 inspection by the local agricultural department, with provision 

 for (a) its disinfection, if thought necessary ; (6) its growth " in 

 quarantine," i.e., in a specified place subject to inspection ; (c) 

 its rejection. 



(2) Exclusion of material related to the existence of specified 

 diseases in certain countries. At the present time these include, 

 in the islands where the industries affected exist, coffee rust, 

 citrus canker, lime anthracnose, cacao witch-broom, Panama 

 disease of bananas, bud-rot and red ring disease of coconuts, and 

 mosaic disease of sugar-cane. 



Internal Regulation. 



The ordinances concerning the control of plant diseases 

 already present apply mainly in the direction of compelling noti- 

 fication and the adoption of measures for prevention or treatment. 

 Their object is the protection of growers in general against injury 

 which may be done to their crops through the existence of 

 infected plants upon which a parasitic disease is uncontrolled. 

 Obviously compulsion can only be justified if the danger is 

 substantial and if some reasonably practicable means of control 

 can be prescribed. 



It may be taken as a general principle that such orders 

 can only be successfully enforced so far as they have the support 

 of public opinion. Where general apprehension exists as to the 

 effects of some particular disease the difficulty is comparatively 

 small, the bud-rot disease of coconuts being a case in point, 

 but where this kind of action is taken without the education 

 of the planter as to its necessity it is certain to be looked upon 

 by many as vexatious interference, and to cause an undesirable 

 reaction against the body responsible for its application. For 



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