DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27676, 4 June 1955, Page 8

DESTRUCTION OF RABBITS

COVERAGE OF AREAS BY BOARDS COUNCIL TO PRESS FOR EXTENSION (From Our Own Reporter) WELLINGTON, June 3. The complete eradication of rabbits from New Zealand is not beyond the bounds of possibility, but while infested areas remain outside rabbit districts there is no hope of that objective being achieved, according to the Rabbit Destruction Council, which released its third annual report today. Criticising the present coverage of infested areas by rabbit boards, the report states that the council continued to strive for extension of the coverage to all infested areas, but the speed of that work was dictated by the attitude of farmers and unwillingness of the Government to insist that rabbits must be cleared, regardless of the wishes of local farmers.

It was quite illogical for small groups of farmers scattered throughout the length and breadth of the land to indignantly maintain that their individual rights were being infringed if they were compelled to come within the area of a rabbit board. It wqs surely

an odd form of democracy which permitted a minority of farmers to harbour vermin while the great majority did their best to fight it, with the financial help of the public purse. “The council regrets that the Government feels unable to take more positive action to implement legislation which is quite adequate to deal with this situation,” the report added. In an endeavour to secure the support of all farmer organisations for a speeding up of the drive against rabbits, the council proposed to confer with leading producer bodies. It was hoped that a more vigorous policy would result. There were now 126 boards in the South Island and 62 in the North Island, covering a total area of 27,373,424 acres. The cost of rabbit destruction to the Government and farmers in rabbit districts ’had remained fairly stable over the last four years at about £1,100,000 a year.