THE RABBIT ACT.

Marlborough Daily Times, Volume VIII, Issue 1970, 30 September 1886, Page 3

THE RABBIT ACT.

TO THE EDITOR. IK) _Wlien I addressed you last week the subject of the Amended Rabbit A t 1 was not acquainted yvitli the piecmo’ object of the* gent’emen, who are promoting the change. At Friday’s meeting, however, it became, clear from the report of the Promoters’ Committee mid the oral statements by which it was s ipportod that they are moving to get power to rate the stock-holders forthe purpose of introducing weasels and stoats. With th ; s object I cannot quarrel, as it is t,Uo uuauiinous opinion of a l competent men, that the introduction and increase of these animals furnish the only probable final solution of the rabbit problem, and it is manifestly only fair that an expenditure, which is for the common benefit, should be borne iu proportion by all. I thiuk, however, this may and ought to he at'.aiued in a more simple and less risky way than the proposed one of destroying a i existing organisation which is admittolly working well to subatitu'e for it o ie which may or may not prove equally ■ tccessful. For my own part I confess to a profound distrust and dread of local a [ministration of this Act, and while reg citing to beat variance from the gent'emen who are promoting it, for all of whom personally I have the highest esteem, I must continue to follow the bent of iny convictions. As the question is re lly to be decided by the majority on pc'Ui >n I shall not attend any more mee - ngs, and I would respectfully advise my fellow-stockholders of the Marlboro :gh sheep district to weigh well the at- u nents, and, shall I add, be very wary of tlm blandishments which will be used to induce them to put their names to a document, the effect of which will be to caiiH-the dismissal of a good and 1191 ful servant to give place to one whose competence is unproved and very doubtful, and to saddle themselves with a tax which they may find it difficult hereafter to shake off. I would like to add an expression of my cordial agreement with eveiy word of Mr Ward’s condemnation of the character of the Act, winch, with its congener the Sheep Act, is a disgrace to the legislation of a free community, inasmuch as it contravenes the first principle of liberty by making the accuser judgi also in his own case. This is the effect of the provisions whicli leaye to the Magistrate only, a power of mitigating penalties which he may know from the evi.htice to be wholly undeserved, and thereby affixing a stigma of delinquency for all time upon a perfectly innocent porson. As for the Sheep Act, in 1877 when as yet only in the shape of a Bill, a copy of it came into my hand and I took thetroubleof|annlysing‘itand|pointing out its faults in a letter to the N.2.Herald, and at this time, nine years later, lam perfectly astonished at tht accuracy of my forecast. The Act is now utterly discredited by the two facts; Ist. that iu the eighth year of its operation the Colony is still infected vi h scab, and 2nd, that the measure of success which has been attained in cleaning has been reached only by going outside of the Act entirely, and giving compensation to the owners of sheep which have been destroyed by order of tlie officers of the Sheep Department. I am, Ac.,

J. D. Busby. Upton Downs, Awatcre, S-pt 27, ISSG