The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, NOVEMBER. 3, 1928. THE RABBIT FARM CANARD.

Gisborne Times, Volume LXVIII, Issue 10735, 5 November 1928, Page 4

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED DAILY MONDAY, NOVEMBER. 3, 1928. THE RABBIT FARM CANARD.

It was, of course, patent when Mr decided to stand for tl»e United Party on this occasion "That ho Would have a hard task to convince any large body of electors that lie had sound grounds for “ratting” on the Reform Party and, in those circumstances, one would have supposed that ho would have devoted his addresses mainly..To an effort to >dTuw' that Sir Jo'sepTi “Wal'd 4 S 'programme is more in the interests of the Dominion than the policy, of the Reform Party or that of the Labor Party. His failure in that regard, however, must he proving most disappointing and distressing to supporters of the United Party. Only in the matter of displaying his own unsuitableness for 'political life has he been successful—and successful in a. very marked degree. It would seem that, in order to divert attention from the fact that his role is uncomfortable. Mr Clayton liif on tho idea that the best thing to do would be to engage in a spectacular campaign of personal belittlenieut as well as of political abuse of those not in accord with him. Thus it lias come about that the weapons which ho has most favored have been ugly insinuations and grotesque innuendoes! But that is not all. Mr Clayton has not shrunk even from “hitting below tho halt” politically. It will he agreed that liis latest effort in that direction would ho serious, if it could he credited that his innuendoes have been mistakenly regarded by any large number of electors as truths. Happily, they amount only to very, very silly statements. The reference is, of course, to his insinuation that it was “rather significant” that the Government had decided to build the Taupo railway in view of, inter alia, the fact that relatives of Mr Lysuar are interested in a proposed company to ho known as the “Waiouru Fur Trading Company Ltd.,” tho scene of operations of which, he very foolishly suggested, at his Manga papa meeting, would be , “very near the Taupo line.” As a matter of fact, every schoolboy might be expected to know that, even if the.:, Taupo railway should Tie built right down to the lake. Waiouru would be about.as close to the line as, say, Napier or Gisborne! What is more, Waiouru does not need railway access; it lies alongside the Main Trunk line! Mr Clayton has since backed down on that point, hut what he has not yet done is to withdraw the inferences that tho operations which tho company intend to engage in would l>o illegal and that it has obtained a special permit, meaning an exclusive right, to farm Chinchilla rabbits in this Dominion. The plain facts of the matter are that Messrs. Lysnar Bros, are already engaged in the business of killing rabbits and buying rabbit skins at Waiouru, which was over-run with the pest many years before they took up property in that district and that it proposed merely to form a company to continue their business. besides extending it to enable rabbit carcases to bo profitably used and, in addition, to add to the operations by growing Chinchilla rab-

bit*. The company has no exclusive right to engage in the new industry of breeding Chinchillas, the fur and skins of which type of rabbit are so much more valuable than those of the common rabbit. Anybody can get a permit to breed either Angora or Chinchilla rabbits, and, in fact, quite a number of other permits were granted before Messrs. Lysnar applied for their permit! Perhaps it is unknown to Mr Clayton that the ‘‘Smallholder” published by a United Party newspaper firm, has, for months, persistently advocated the advantages of the Angora and Chinchilla rabbit industry to this Dominion : that one of the greatest supporters) of rabbit farming is Mr Horn, the retiring United Party member for Wakatipn, who holds that it would open up a large, new avenue of employment; and that several consignments of Angoras and of Chinchillas have reached various portions of the Dominion. So much, then, for Mr Clayton A latest canard anent the rabbit farm. It is on a par with his despicable further innuendo that Reform supporters were given the tip to acquire land along the route which the Taupo line will be found to follow.