Rabbit Control

Press, Volume LXXVI, Issue 23177, 14 November 1940, Page 6

Rabbit Control

The experimental scheme of rabbit destruction outlined by the Minister for Labour, the Hon. P. C. Webb, in an interview printed in “The “ Press ” yesterday, has one outstanding merit: it operates in the season when rabbits are breeding and destruction is most effective. In the past, the efficiency of efforts to control the rabbit pest have been hampered by the fact that, for commercial reasons, destruction has been carried on mainly in the winter, when skins are in good condition. A second advantage of the scheme outlined by Mr Webb is its flexibility: rabbit boards, approved local committees, or individual farmers can take advantage of it. The rate of subsidy is more than generous; and if farmers and local authorities are alive to the opportunity which has been presented to them—in Canterbury and Otago they have responded well—the scheme should be of substantial benefit to the country. If there are any misgivings, they will be related, not to the merits of the scheme itself, but to l its future. The history of the war on rabbits in New Zealand is a history of vigorous attacks alternating with periods of inertia, the result being that the pest has never been adequately controlled for very long. What is needed is a systematic, comprehensive, long-term programme of rabbit destruction; and probably the best way to put such a programme into operation would be to impose on county councils (which have lost many of their functions in recent years) the'responsibility for controlling the rabbit pest in th'eir districts. Mr Webb’s scheme is a temporary one, designed partly to provide employment. If the men it employs are needed for shearing or “ necessary “ farm work,” they will be released, since “ the “ destruction of ’ rabbits . . . must be sub- “ ordinated in war time to immediate produc“tion.” The Minister’s attitude to the problem is an unfortunate one. If the country is seeking full productive efficiency, it cannot afford to neglect rabbit control even for a year.