4 
not so do more troublesome plants would and the damage done is 
practically negligible. Eichornia is rigorously excluded from Ceylon, 
probably for some good local reason. 
The common yellow flowered weed known as Synedrella nodiflora 
is not particularly troublesome in the Straits, but it somehow got 
introduced into Christmas island, perhaps in forage for horses or cat- 
tle, or perhaps in packing. It established itself in great abundance in 
various parts of the Settlement and proved a nuisance as in the dry 
season it died and dried up, and was extremely liable to fire, being- 
very inflammable. I have never seen it behave like this in the Straits. 
There being no dry season it does not all die at once and form an in- 
flammable mass. Oxalisrosea, a pretty pink flowered herb, has proved a 
great pest in Ceylon, propagating itself by its abundant underground 
tubers. It is not only harmless here but is rather a difficult plant to 
grow and will not establish itself in our low-country. On the top of 
the hill in Penang it established itself for a time on the banks, but 
was not in any way a nuisance. 
These examples show how extremely difficult it is to judge 
whether any given plant would be likely to prove a nuisance if intro- 
duced into a country. However usually if any plant shows signs of 
becoming aggressive, it can be attacked in the early days of its 
spreading and exterminated. 
With internal legislation the main difficulty is to carry it into 
effect satisfactorily and at the same time without annoyance or fric- 
tion. Our natives in the Peninsula seem to realise the importance of 
this work in agriculture, and assist to cariy it out. It is the law and 
taws are adamant. The highly civilised native of other parts and 
frequently the white man thinks he knows a great deal better what 
should be done than the scientific man, and makes trouble. Hence in 
some countries friction has occurred which has interfered with the 
success of the work. In Utah a judge decided that though spraying 
fruit trees for pests was absolutely necessary it was “ unconstitutional ” 
to enforce the law “ as it hardly looked reasonable that the law can 
tell a person just how and when to spray or otherwise treat his orchard 
and to inflict a penalty if the law is not complied with. (Loder 
Spraying of Plants 381). This absurd decision seems to have inter- 
fered considerably with the effects of a good and wholesome law. 
There was also some friction in carrying out the laws against the 
Codlin-moth in Tasmania at one time at least, for a Tasmanian 
official in 1894 told me that he believed that our coconut trees ordin- 
ance was the only legislation of the kind that had ever been carried 
out without friction. 
Firmness with reasonableness is really the key to the difficulty, a 
want of firmness in administering the law is the chief cause of 
friction, assuming that the law had been drawn up by a competent 
person of scientific knowledge and common sense.— Ed. 
