Fiji’S War On Lantana
pp. 110-112 · Read in the full issue
Suva, May 30.
FIJI has guaranteed £FBOO to wards the cost of a Hawaiian expedition to Central America to try to find a parasite that will kill that übiquitous weed pest, lantana, which
is now ranked a major headache in Fiji.
Fiji will contribute another <£F 1,000 this year to a Canadian organisation which is making pre liminary investigations into the biological control of a number of weeds including lantana, guava and
tobacco weed, all of which are
present in Fiji.
(Ed. Note; If Fijian authorities say there is lantana in Fiji, then no doubt there is lantana, although it is not noticed by the visitor as guava, for example, cannot help being noticed. If there is a collection being made to finance the finding of a parasite, then NSW should be asked to contribute. In NSW, from Sydney northwards along the higher rainfall area, lantana grows faster than Jack’s beanstalk. Giant hedges line the country roadways and year by year it encroaches on farm land and even un cleared bush. It is a bigger curse than blackberry. .In recent years a special hormone or selective weed-killer has been devised; this, used as a spray, certainly kills the top growth but whether it completely eradicates the pest remains to be seen. In any event, selective weed killers are expensive and it would probably cost millions to kill off all NSW’s lantana by this means.) Mr. Harry Whiteman has been sent
to London by Qantas Empire Air
ways as assistant engineering liaison
officer. He will remain there for
two years, New Guinea residents were
particularly pleased to hear of this
young man’s success in his chosen
work—he is the son of Mrs. J.
Whiteman, one of New Guinea’s war
widows, formerly of Rabaul and now
of Sydney.
Commission . . . passed away in England on May 6, Mrs Eleanor Dorothea Crozier, widow of the late Rev. E. F. Crozier, one-time Arch deacon of NG . . . Congratulations to Sir Edward Hallstrom of Nondugl . . . Said Administrator Murray in an ABC broadcast “Native labour costs about £lOO a year a head” and added that it cannot compare witli the Australian workers’ wages. He continued: “Some people say the natives were spoilt as a result of coming in contact with the armed forces for the first time. But the good influence has outweighed the bad influence. Native development should be done rapidly.”