RABBIT BOARD AREAS

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28699, 24 September 1958, Page 15

RABBIT BOARD AREAS

Conditions For Expansion (New Zealand Press Association) WELLINGTON, September 23. Conditions under which rabbit boards may assume control over additional areas were announced by the Minister of Agriculture (Mr Skinner) today.

Open areas—areas not under board control —adjacent to rabbit districts will be added to rabbit board areas if they are infested by rabbits, and provided the proposals have the support of the rabbit board and the Rabbit Destruction Council. The decision will rest on a joint report to the Minister of Agriculture on the open area by the inspector of the rabbit board affected and the local livestock instructor of the Agriculture Department. This report will be made after a full joint inspection of the area if the area is shown to be infested by rabbits it will be added to the adjoining rabbit board district.

The creation of new rabbit districts, as distinct from the enlarging of existing districts to include* adjacent infested areas, will depend on the opinion of the majority of the ratepayers in the area. All ratepayers affected will receive a circular explaining a proposal for creating a new rabbit district. On the returnable portion of this form, the ratepayer will indicate his opinion. If the form is not returned this will be regarded as absent. “Last year, rabbit destruction cost about £1,300,000. It may continue at that level for some time,” said Mr Skinner. “I appeal to farmers in the open areas to co-operate in the effort being made to bring the remaining rab-bit-infested districts under board control in the interests of our primary industries and the country generally.”