GOOD PROGRESS MADE BY RABBIT BOARD

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30212, 17 August 1963, Page 7

GOOD PROGRESS MADE BY RABBIT BOARD

Since May, 1961, when rabbiting began the Lower Rakaia Rabbit Board says, in its latest newsletter,, that it considers great progress has been made in reducing the rabbit infestation in its area. In its district of about 263,000 acres the worst infested areas had been the Rakaia and Selwyn riverbeds and adjoining properties and it was here that work had been concentrated. Excellent progress had been made, however, and it had been possible to reduce the scale of this winter’s carrot poisoning programme. For hand and aerial poisoning about 50 tons of carrots were being used, Which was a reduction of about 30 tons on last year. Once again the majority of the tonnage had been spread on Crown lands along the Rakaia boundary, for which the Crown paid its share, and there had also been a joint poison with the Plains Rabbit Board along the Selwyn boundary. In the last financial year the board recovered £15*20 from the Crown as the cost of rabbiting on Crown lands. The board’s area also includes 8600 acres of Selwyn Plantation Board land and it receives from the Plantation board a grant equivalent to the rate on adjoining land. Though almost the whole of its area had now been covered by its various destruction programmes, the

board warns ratepayers that the last rabbit has not by any means been obtained yet and much hard work has still to be done to bring the area to the policing stage. More than ever ratepayer cooperation was necessary from now on and ratepayers should not hesitate in contacting the board foreman if they had a rabbit problem. The newsletter says that the board received approval in June to undertake opossum destruction. It says that it had Sought approval to do this in order to provide a service to all ratepayers, as some virtually had no rabbit problem, but it added that the rabbit was still regarded as the major problem and opossum destruction would be a secondary consideration, except in isolated cases. Income from rates in the Current year will be down by £l2O on last year t0£5210. Because of the lower infestation along the Rakaia river, the board says that it has been possible to reduce rates on all but two of the properties which had been rated at 8d an acre last year. Last year part or whole of some 30 properties were rated at Bd.

Rates thia year will fall mainly within two classes—--2d an acre for hill country properties and properties in the Lake Ellesmere drainage area <a total of 20,224 acres) and 5d an acre for the balance of the board’s area, except Rakaia and Feredays Island (7,959 acres) where the rate will be Bd. The board is at present negotiating for the purchase <rf a house property at Coalgate.