RABBITS FOR FUR.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19669, 12 July 1929, Page 4

RABBITS FOR FUR.

PROPOSED NEW INDUSTRY. GRAZIERS IN PROTEST. (from oca special bepresentative.) CANBERRA, June 28. There is a great to-do over the question of importing Angora rabbits for wool purposes. According to one authority, good Angoras yield at least £1 worth of wool per head per annum A recent telegram from Sydney ran: —"Referring to the decision of the State Ministers for Agriculture m conference in Melbourne that they would offer no opposition to the importation of Angora rabbits into Austiaua, the president of the Graziers' Association (Mr F. H. Tout) entered a strong protest against any Government measure to license rabbit-breeding, as it would be a grave menace to the pastoral industry." Mr fout added that rabbits were one oi the greatest curses afflictinfi our pastoral industry, and to legalise their breeding for commercial purposes would be decidedly detrimental to the true interests of the Commonwealth. Certainly it would be a very foolish thing to do anything that was going to prove a menace to the production ot sheep, for there is a great deal in the saying that the sheep carries Australia on its back. But it appears that there are rabbits and rabbits. In the "Dubbo Liberal" of a recent date, for instance, a special article by F. EL Shepherd appeared dealing with hutch- | rabbits, and he gave some rather astonishing facts and figures relating to the industry—for in some countries it is a very important industry. Jle said that last rear, according to official rerturns. the hutch-rabbits reared in France yielded the immense sum of £44,000.000. the greater part of which went to small landholdersThese rabbits are produced in quantities in Great Britain, and m March last the British Department of Agriculture issued an appeal to small land owners to rear more of them, pointing out that the demand, both for fur and flesli was increasing Judging from what Mr Shepherd writes 0 these hutch-habbits are not allowed to scamper wild about the country- they are kept in 'rabbitenes enclosed in wire-netting, and require feed in 2 twice a day, their food consistin<r of green stuff, with a handful ot bran meal, or oats at on* meal. During a dry spell hay and roots may be substituted. The cost of stud rabbits in Britain ranges up to £IOO, but it is said that, to with, a man can start a rabbitery with an expenditure of £4O or £SO. Licenses may be obtained in New South Wales to hutchfarm such rabbits as already exist m the State but these have little value for fur purposes. In New Zealand, the Minister for Agriculture has been convinced of the potential value of the industry, and the prohibition on importations has been removed. It is noteworthy, however, that when the Dubbo district branch of the Farmers and Settlers' Union met about a week after the appearance of Mr Shepherd's article. it was decided to protest strondy against anv attempt to breed rabbits for their fur. As one of the members, Mr T. Wil'iams, put it, "fur farming with rabbits is a farce, and its toleranre will re-establish an enemy that it has taken mill : ons to keep under control." One imarfne* that the farmers ought to know whether there is a menace or not in this proposed inrwrv pur may be a rerv imnor+«nt thine in the world to-day, but in Austhere is moro important than wool, and if the breeding of fur-

rabbits is suggested on lines that might joopardise our wool industry, it is bound to receive short shrift. The whole question is receiving the close attention of both Federal and State Governments. Regarding the subject of Angora rabbits, it is not amiss to quote here from a letter which recently appeared in the "Sydney Morning Herald," written by Mr John I. Dent, of Bowral: "I trust the Federal Government will see that no more of these curses are imported to our shores. It is not many years ago since our Governments secured the services of a. French doctor with a view to introducing a plague to destroy rabbita here, and now some Australians are talking about importing and protecting them "