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Bruce Herald, Volume XXXXIV, Issue 56, 18 June 1908, Page 3

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From Bulletin No 16, New Z.a'.uid Department of Agriculture.

The plan most favored is the laying of poisoned grain, and the payment for heads and eggs. This plan seems to have been fairly effective when combined action is taken, but it has often failed where there is lack of combination. The natural increase is checked by this means, but there are few instances of any material diminution in numbers having been made. In the orchard, in the North Island, the gun is used. At the Bird Sanctuary on Little Barrier Island, the nest of blackbirds, thrushes, sparrows and finches, are destroyed when opportunities occur, and it is thought that this probably keeps the English birds in check on the island. In several districts heads and eggs are paid for, and poisoned wheat is distributed free by the local authorities. In other districts natting is resorted to. Some local bodies pay for heads, the eggs, and young. Mr J. Wolfe, a Lincoln (North Canterbury) farmer, states that the system -of purchase has the desired effect to a great extent. lie also informed me that he was the first to use s'.rychnine poison in the district, having commenced to do so twenty-six years ago, and he has been poisoning ever since, with good results.

A very miscellaneous lot of suggestions are offered as to the best means of checking the nuisance. A gentleman in Terauka has prepared a scheme providing for legislation to compel all land owners to produce a certain number of sparrows during the winter months.

fanners suggest thai so;;* nets, such as bird-catchers use, coui.i be brought into requisition by capable men with effect. The Government is recommended to give a bonus for the production of a poison that will be readily eaten by the birds, and one correspondent thinks that a bonus should be given for the 'best trap. There is a strong feeling in favor of the introduction of English owls, sparrow hawk, and other birds of prey, and the introduction of Knglish bats, frogs and toads is also favored. A practical observation is that the towns ought to be compelled to do more than at present, as they are breeding places, from which the birds swarm into the country districts. Among the most novel suggestions are : the systematic employment of armies of small boys at nesting, and the use of electric; wires stretched round fields of crops, the wires to be charged with electricity in order to give the birds severe shocks. The most practical scheme, and the one that is evidently more acceptable than any other, is a thorough and systematic poisoning. The whole operation, it is urged, should be controlled by the Agricultural Department, which should be armed with compulsory powers, so that it could compel all farmers in one district to act in unison.

This is the plan most favoured by the Department, and I understand that steps will probably be taken to give effect to a scheme of that nature. By the Birds Nuisance Act of 1902, the Governor-in-Council may fix a date for every local body in the South Island to take steps to destroy injurious birds. To ensure concerted and simultaneous action, he may divide the Dominion into districts and fix a date for a conference in each district, the conference to make recommendations in regard to a suitable day for the work of destruction in the district, and the best methods to adopt. Where the methods -decided upon prove to be inadequate, the local bodies shall adopt other methods, so that the work may be carried out successfully. The local bodies may appoint inspectors and make by-laws under the Act ? and also levy a rate not exceeding i-i6d in the pound on the capital value. The Minister of Agriculture is also empowered to appoint inspectors if a local body fails to carry out the Act. Although the Act applies to only the Sotith Island—or Middle Island, as it is officially named—it may bo made to apply to any district in the North Island at the request of a local authority.