DEVALUATION OF RABBIT SKINS URGED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22695, 21 July 1948, Page 6

DEVALUATION OF RABBIT SKINS URGED

COSTLY “BOARDER”

The opinion that the devaluation of rabbitskins in the North Island would be a wise steo was expressed by Mr. J. R. Byrne, a sheepfarmer on thirdciass and marginal land in the Porangahau district, who gave evidence in Waipukurau before the Royal Commission on Sheepfarming. Witness said he considered that the principle of boards with n killing policy had proved its effectiveness, and it seemed likely that it would become general throughout the country in course of time, but there was one circumstance which he felt sure rabbit boards must find disturbing. That was that many rabbiters forgot the primary objective of rabbit extermination and devoted too much time to collecting and treating skins. Would be Wise Step. “Despite the fact that the Rabbit Destruction Council is using the levy on skins to assist rabbit boards, _ 1 believe the devaluation of rabbitskins in the North Island would be a wise step,” continued the witness- “ The chairman of this commission has stated that the rabbit is too expensive to be kept as a boarder, and that he must be exterminated, but while the rabbit continues to be regarded by many as a commercial proposition and a source of profit, and not, as it should be, as a aireet menace to production and the conservation of the soil, that effort towards extermination cannot be a complete one.” Mr Byrne told the commission that lie considered that the rabbit menace had developed from the unwise decision of the wartime Armed Forces Appeal Board that rabbiters were not essential workers.