MOKAU RABBIT GATE

King Country Chronicle, Volume XXVI, Issue 3448, 29 March 1932, Page 5

MOKAU RABBIT GATE

OBJECTION TO REMOVAL. The Whangamomo'na Rabbit Board has decided to register its objection to proposed removal of the rabbit gate from the Mokau Bridge. That decision was unanimously reached at the/ quarterly meeting of the Board last week in response to a letter from the North Taranaki provincial executive of the Farmers’ Union asking for the Board’s opinion. The letter pointed out that a subsidy of £6O per annum was being paid by the Agricultural Department for attention to the gate.

In reply to a question it was stated that the rabbit gate in the Tangarakau Gorge was still in existence. A member stated that there were rabbits in various parts of Taranaki. One had even been seen in the Stratford hospital grounds. Mr. Ford strongly opposed the removal Of the gate. If it were taken away, he considered, the whole of Taranaki should be asked to bear the expense of keeping down the spread of rabbits instead of leaving the Whangamomona county to bear the whole burden. As apparently the rabbits were spreading, the whole _of Taranaki should be brought into line. Mr. Kennedy considered that the Whangamomona county was acting as a buffer to the spread of the rabbits all the/ time. The chairman (Mr. Cleland) also opposed removal of the gate. They would next be asked to agree to the removal of the gate in the gorge, he said. Already Whangamomona ratepayers were being put to expense in controlling the rabbits, which they could ill afford.