The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1883.

Lyttelton Times, Volume LIX, Issue 6870, 7 March 1883, Page 4

The Lyttelton Times. WEDNESDAY, MARCH 7, 1883.

When tbe Acclimatisation Society of Canterbury talked about introducing hawks as a counterbalance to the sparrow nuisance, it raised a great question, which every year has been growing in importance in the public mind. Quite in tbe early days, when acclimatisation began, the great tenderness was for protection of the feathered and furred immigrants. The protecting power of man was extended over his friends of the brute creation, with a solicitude more paternal than judicious. Even the rabbit was screened from undue disturbance by the aegis of a £SO fine. There are some people who actually believe that the Ordinance of the Southland Provincial Council to that effect, is still in force, having by some means contrived to survive the repealing clauses ot the several Acts that have of late years beat passed for the reduction of tbe rabbit nuisance. Man’s friends of the brute creation, however, very soon proved themselves ungrateful—so ungrateful that man had to devise means for their extirpation. The sparrow and the rabbit having taken possession of great tracts of country, man undertook to cope with the nuisance unaided. The rabbit very soon showed, in spite of the extraordinary success of tho poisoned grain, that without allies his enemy man is destined in the end to suffer ignominious defeat. Very soon, therefore, man called to his assistance tho natural enemies of tbe rabbit, relaxing tho stringency of the laws against his new allies. The sparrow, however, continued to be tackled single-handed. Boys climbed trees In search of eggs, mechanical people Invented a peculiar style of net, whole country districts wont in for poisoning with grain, and a law was passed to facilitate combination for that purpose. But at last the sparrow hoi convinced his antagonists that unless his natural enemies are introduced man is doomed to final defeat. We had, in consequence, a conversation at the last meeting of the Aoolimatiiathm Society about (he edvisablenees of

introducing- varlotia kind* ot hawks. The Animal* Protection Act of 1880, however, bar* the way with a probi* billon ot the importation 01 netting tree of “any to*, vcoomou* reptile, hawk, vulture, or other bird of pray.” WfaMi this bar is removed as far m tbe bawks or® ooncorncd the country will welcome the natural enemies of the sparrow. Some loss ot poultry, acid, perhaps, of young lambs may ensue. It Is purely a question of the necessary price. The sparrow was Introduced to cat up insect peats. He etc the Insects, bat charged an exorbitant price. The hawk must be let loose on lihe sparrow, and in his turn he will doubtless charge a price. But by care and good manage* meat that price can be kept down to a very email minimum. The swarming of the rabbit is by no means.without interest to Canterbury. It will be ae well to realise, therefore, here as well as elsewhere, that the most effectual scourges of the rabbit ore the natural enemies of the rabbit. Poisoned grain has done wonders. There are many spurs among the hills of Southland and Central Otago, at the present moment, unapproachable by reason of the enormous numbers of poisoned rabbits in the gullies. Where shooting, on account of the roughness of the country, proved a failure, poison did its work in a way that made eye witnesses absolutely sick. But even this turning of great hill sides Into gigantic Golgotha® has proved unavailing. In the spring of the year, when the grass is green, the rabbit refuses the groin. There are besides many rough oonutrie* into which it is impossible for m«n to carry grain, and very difficult for them to carry guns and ammunition. There are steep places over which a man has enough to do to carry himself, and there is thick fern in vbioh a hundred guns are powerless to touch a single rabbit. Into these fastnesses these creatures retreat, and though decimated by the hard winters contrive to see the breeding season in myriads. The only creatures that can cope with them in their strongholds are their natural enemies the ferret, the stoat, and the weasel. The slaughter they inflict is permanent and effectual, instead of intermittent and partial. They bail out tbe flood with buckets, while man unaided bails with sieves. On one run in Marlborough the success obtained by the breeding of ferrets is well known. Mr Ballon's gamekeeper at Kaikoura always has an assortment of ferrets on hand ready for emergencies. Wherever he hears of rabbits making head in a particular part of the ran he at once turns out as many ferrets as he may judge to be necessary, and in a short time the rabbits cease to be noticed. This is the most successful case we have heard of, but there is no reason why everybody should not be equally fortunate. The main thing is to keep up the iiupply of ferrets.

The swarms of rabbits have been about ten yean getting through Central Otago. In 1872 they were beginning to be a nuisance on the borders of Southland, having played havoc in that district. Since then millions have devastated the country. To-day they have appeared among the hills at the head waters of the Waitaki, and unless properly taken in hand they will very soon swarm over the M'Eenzie Country; they will be found in all the ranges between Burke’s Pass and the Waimakariri, and the outskirts of the Canterbury plains will be their richest feeding ground. The Waimakami will not stop them, nor the Humnui. They are destined to swarm in the Amuri, and Nelson and Marlborough are threatened with desolation. The question is of all-absorbing interest to the whole of the island. We strongly advise stockowners to consider it well. Let those in the North be warned by the grave expense under which those of their friends in the South, who have not been rained, are now groaning. Time presses. The men who are in the immediate track of the devastation should furnish themselves with the allies that have been found so useful. But while protecting themselves they will bo acting as the bulwarks of the Northera country. And the same may be said mutatis mutandis of the stockowners in the neighbourhood of the Marlborough rabbits. These are entitled to the assistance and 00-operation of their fellow-owners. A well sustained effort on a large scale of combination is, in fact, absolutely necessary. The man who can engineer the combination will deserve well of his country.