WILD PIGS.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 12 October 1922, Page 2

WILD PIGS.

MR MASTERS' QUESTIONS. j

• The > following editorial comment is made by the Taraiiaki Herald: Mr R. Masters, M.P., is a man with an active mind who is always on the look-out for grievances ; that need\ redress., Some time'back he was struck by the high prices charged by cement companies in the DominUm and secured a Royal Commission to enquire into the matter. This commission did not support Mr Masters' charges, but the! decision did not cause him to alter his opinion. At present he has discovered another matter! demanding action by the 'Government. Pigs flourish in the bush in the ! back-blocks of Taranaki and, having ! a taste -for?young lambs, cause serious ' losses to settlers. Mr Masters has asked several questions in the House \ as to how the Government proposes to deal with the matter and has received-, very little satisfaction from the Minister of Agriculture, who ,seems not to realise that the fate of Governments i has often been decided by matters that have" at first sight appeared trifling. It is'well known that pigs can increase under favourable circumstances at an enormous rate. Sows have as many as 15, or 20 young, at a time, and calcula- > tions have shown. that it is possible for one sow to produce in ten/years descendant's sufficient iri numbers not to have stand|ng : room on the surface of the cart*. ; It is obvious that if the Taranaki pigs are provided with an unlimited supply of young lambs they will flourish exceedingly and spread from the back-blocks into the more closely settled, portions of Mr Masters' ' ; constituency., We know the ravages that have been committed by mice in Australia, but the damage done by a' similar number of wild j)igs \vould be far greater. Mr Masters no doubt realises this danger to the full, bu# is unwilling to a panic by dwelling on it, and his questions in the House have been framed with the object of [ spurring a supine GWernment to action before it is too late. . Cabinet should at once put a price on the head of every wild pig in the country, otherWise the Government may, be swept * from office by an indigant country and a new Ministry returned, in which Mr Masters will hold a position as head of the department for destroying wild pigs. •; . 6