DESTROYING RABBITS

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIV, Issue 97, 7 April 1934, Page 11

DESTROYING RABBITS

Use of Relief Labour The report of the monthly meeting of the Hawke’s Bay Babbit Board which appeared in yesterday's “Tribune,” while reassuring points out the necessity for controlling and stainping-out this pest. It has been suggested by several farmers that the Unemployment Board could assist in this matter by making labour available for this purpose. In the South Island such efforts have been made, but the Unemployment Board has restricted the operation of the No. 11 (rabbiting scheme) to married men. Commenting on this, the “Christchurch Press”, says: “There is good ground for stating that the rabbit pest is increasing in various parts of the South Island. This is the usual experience when the price of skins or primary produce is low. On the one hand there is no encouragement for the professional rabbiter to drop a permanent job, if he should have one, to go rabhifing, and on the other hand the farmer can scarcely be expected to spend money on rabbit destruction when it takes him all his time to meet current outgoings. “Such being the case it is surprising that the Unemployment Board should have restricted the operation of No. 11 (rabbiting) scheme to married men. Married unemployed, confidently relying on a few sympathetic politicians to support them, have most furiously protested against married men’s camps a few miles away from leading provincial towns, so what may be expected if they are sent out in small parties, to the back of beyond I Perhaps the smaller groups will provide less scope for mischief-makers—-those without the camps as well as those inside them—but the prospect is not encouraging. “It is understood that Marlborough farmers are requiring the services immediately of some 70 men to undertake rabbiting, and as a result of the Unemployment Board’s decision considerable difficulty may be encountered in getting sufficient suitable men. One farmer concerned states that the board’s action will hamper the rabbiting scheme as so many single men are expert rabbiters. and are suitable for back-country work, while married men are often riot experienced and are not ready to take on employment on the back-country stations.”