WAR AGAINST RABBITS

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25739, 26 February 1949, Page 5

WAR AGAINST RABBITS

Killer Policy For Hurunui

MALVERN FARMERS’ ACTIVITY

The effects of the new rabbit legislation are already beginning to be felt. This week the Hurunui Rabbit Board, one of the eldest in the country, received an intimation that it will be transformed into a killer board after having functioned for more than 70 years as an inspection board; Malvern farmers have begun a campaign against rabbits; and a meeting at Ashley decided against the formation of a board. The Hurunui Rabbit Board has received advice from the Minister of Agriculture that it must adopt a killer policy from April 1 this year, and that it is likely that the district will be divided into several separate rabbit districts. Each of these districts will presumably have a board of its own. The Hurunui board is now a venerable institution, as it was gazetted in December, 1876, when its function was described as the erection and maintenance of a fence to prevent “an invasion of rabbits from Marlborough.” Up to the first World War the Government inspector of stock was responsible for rabbit destruction and was assisted from about 1914 by another inspector supplied by the board. By 1920 rabbits had increased to millions and were far beyond the capacity of the two inspectors. The board therefore took over destruction and at once stopped trapping on the backcountry runs. In 1924 trapping was stopped altogether, and poison, dogs, guns, and ferrets were used. The fence had by this time become useless, and it was. sold, and three of the men employed on the fence were put on to destruction work, making seven men at the job. By 1928 the rabbits were under control, and the whole area was in a satisfactory condition, and the staff was reduced to four, where it remains at present. The board was concerned during the second war that rabbits might increase as they had done after 1914, but runholders and farmers kept at the rabbits. and they did not get away. The board’s area covers the Amuri, Cheviot, and Waipara Counties, in fact all the land between the Waipara and Waiau rivers, and totals about 2,500,000 acres, of which 1,500,000 acres are run country, including the 225,000 acres of St. James station. Farmers in the board’s area have always kept at their rabbits and have resisted the formation of a killer board. Rating has always been on stock, the present figure being 7-16ths of a penny a head on sheep, of which there are about 1,100,000 in the area. The new set-up will mean rating on land, and a severe administrative headache will arise from the need to determine what the rate will be. If, as seems certain, the district is broken up into separate boards, further difficulties will be labour and housing. One of the main difficulties the board has had to face, and one that will probably trouble its successors, is the large area of unoccupied Crown land in its area, mainly riverbed, which acts as a reservoir to replenish the rabbits on clean country. The Crown pays no rates, but usually makes an insignificant grant to the board for rabbit destruction. Malvern Meeting A Malvern farmer, Mr J. W. Green, of Hawkins, started something when he suggested recently that his neighbours along the Hawkins and Waianewa rivers should make a concerted drive against the rabbits that have sortied in increasing numbers from the riverbeds recently. At a meeting in Darfield on Tuesday between 50 and 60 farmers turned up from all parts of the Malvern County and reached a unanimous decision to poison with strychnine oats before March 21, which allows about a month from the date of the meeting. A committee of five was appointed to examine the results of the poisoning, and the formation of a killer board will be discussed in the light of the results obtained. One man who was present said that the most striking feature of the meeting was the determination expressed by farmers from all parts of the county to make some attempt to control rabbits. As in many other districts, rabbits have increased in recent years in the Malvern County. In the recent dry weather they have come out of the riverbeds in larger than normal numbers, and several farmers at the meeting reported destruction of green feed crops valued at up to £2OO to £3OO. No Board for Ashley A meeting of about 45 ratepayers in the Ashley County and the south riding of the Kowai County at Ashley this week decided against the formation of a rabbit board. The meeting was addressed by Mr E. L. Haitt, chairman of the Kowai Board. Mr J. D. Anderson, district inspector of stock, and Mr V. Wightman, stock inspector at Amberley. The main reason for the decision was that costs would be too great, and no doubt the ratepayers were influenced by the large area of Crown land, about 28,000 acres, mainly in forestry reserves, that exist in the area. Mr Wightman told the meeting that he estimated that control could be achieved if the ratepayers found £1255, which would be the produce of a rate of 3d an acre on 70,000 acres in Ashley and 30,000 a(?res in Kowai. This, with the Govv ernment subsidy, would give about £2500 a year, which he considered adequate. The proposal was nevertheless turned down by a large majority. It is proposed now that the Ashley County should form a rabbit association, which will work with the local stock inspector.