Looking at NZ Legislation: Introduction of Honeybees (and Appliances and Honey) 

This article relates only to legislative/regulatory aspects of introducing bees from overseas, but not the first 50 or 60 years.  Mary Bumby, William Cotton – those real early stories are for someone else to write about.  Some other aspects will be mentioned (Australian honey, Trevor Palmer-Jones), but not documented fully or described in detail.

The introduction of bees is hard to isolate from the introduction of bee appliances and also of honey itself, so both will figure along with bees.  The “importation of bees” was almost, if not exclusively, the importation of queen bees for breeding purposes.

As an aside, there have been many more “bits” of legislative activity – especially in the form of Gazette Notices – relating to the export and marketing of honey rather than any sort of imports.  All of the various marketing efforts through the years were accompanied by appointments and elections, variously.  This article does not discuss the exports of honey, another interesting topic.

Prior to 1913 there were no prohibitions at all for bees, equipment or honey, either for importation or for export.  Through the 1870s to the early 1900s there would have been numerous imports of queen bees from overseas, as early beekeeping attempted to obtain ‘better’ genetics.  Honey did not have a great enough value to import, and the demand for honey generally exceeded supply, at least until about 1915 (albeit at low returns to the beekeeper).  Second-hand bee equipment had no regulations, but also had no local demand due to distance and pricing for transport.

The Apiaries Act 1906 was enacted with a critical amendment that was seen by beekeepers as a fatal flaw.  That was corrected with the Apiaries Act 1907, later consolidated into the Apiaries Act 1908.  But none of these addressed the issues of import and export, concerned more with disease control and requiring movable frame hives.

The Apiaries Amendment Act 1913 is the first piece of NZ legislation that did directly address the importation of bees, specifically.  Sections 8 and 9 give powers to restrict introductions, but are explicitly related to “diseased or infected with disease” or is likely to introduce or spread any disease.  It appears to have been a form of blanket authority for the Minister of Agriculture to ultimately make decisions, and could apply to any importations of live bees.

By 1920 the process was more prescriptive, but certainly possible, to import both bees and honey to NZ.  Notice No. 2038 described a series of forms that needed to be filled for bringing in bees (only from Italy, USA and Australia).  A similar approach was taken to honey, saying it could be imported from the USA or Australia, but again with form-filling involved.  All of the wording for each of the various declarations is specified in the notice.  Bee appliances were still prohibited, apart from bees being imported being allowed to be in a container…

In 1924 a regulatory notice, Notice No. Ag. 2387 revoked all of that from 4 years earlier, replacing it with bee imports needing the Minister of Agriculture’s approval first.  Bee appliances are still prohibited, and honey is not mentioned, seeming to indicate that there were no specific restrictions on importing honey.

The Apiaries Act 1927, a significant enactment for beekeeping, did not address the process or possibility of the importations of bees, appliances or honey, presumably still leaving it entirely to the Minister of Agriculture’s discretion.

Through the early 1930s, importations of honey to New Zealand were not infrequent, but most often in the form of manufacturing grade honeys, generally from Australia.  The importation (trans-shipment?) of 150 tons of Australian honey in 1937 led to the resignations of all on the Honey Control Board.  It would seem that all importations were still to be determined by the Minister of Agriculture.

Marketing dominated the legislation from 1935.  A 1946 notice made it explicit that second-hand equipment is prohibited, but the Minister of Agriculture can decide on any applications for the importation of bees.  

The Apiaries Regulations 1948 carried over the ministerial discretion (relating back to the powers of the 1927 Apiaries Act), and also included the power to seize and destroy bees and equipment that were imported without a permit.  (The rest of these regulations relate to tutu poisonings…)

The 1951 Apiaries Amendment added in ministerial ability to prohibit or regulate the introduction of bees (“or any strain or strains of bees”).

The Apiary Regulations 1952 seems to retain the ministerial decision on imports under a permitted system, but extended the authority down to the Director of the Horticultural Division of the Department of Agriculture.

Through this period of the 1950s importations of queens were permitted, but must be received and inspected by Wallaceville Animal Research in both 1956 and 1957.  Trevor Palmer-Jones would have exerted a conservative approach in advice to Government about importations of bees through much of this period from 1944 to 1975 when he retired.  He was quite adamant that the importation of bees, even under the best biosecurity arrangements, might still lead to the introduction of one of the many honeybee pests or diseases. He remained consistently concerned about pest/disease introduction and the response to an incursion.

Finally, the 1969 Apiaries Act gave full discretion to the Minister of Agriculture to approve any importations of bees or appliances, and giving a range of reasons a permit might be rejected.  By this time, the beekeeping industry was accepting, for the most part, of the prohibition on importing second-hand bee appliances and honey.  There were still arguments to come of the possibility of importations of improved bees.