The Marlborough Express Published Every Evening. MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1898. RABBITS IN VICTORIA.

Marlborough Express, Volume XXIX, Issue 88, 17 April 1893, Page 2

The Marlborough Express Published Every Evening. MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1898. RABBITS IN VICTORIA.

In accordance with tha wtrenehment policy now inaugurated, the Victorian Government have decided to abolish the Rabbit Inspectors, and expected thereby ta »ffeot a saving of £15,000 a year, the work m the futn.te to be done by the mounted troopara As most people know, tbe rabbit ia perhaps the wont foe the Bottlers living m certain portions of Vioteria have to contend with. Droughts, floods, and bush fires, are others, but they are intermittent, while the rabbit is an ever present, and, until the last year or two, an ever increasing danger. It i 3 only some three or four years ago since the Babbit Inspectors were taken under the supervision of tbe Governm«nt. Previous to that date each Shire Council m the western, northern, and north-eastern portions of ths colony had aa Inspector of its own, whoso duty it was to travel about tha Ceunoil'o districts and cause settlors to take steps to destroy the rabbits. These offioera were paid out of the funds of the municipality. The system did not, however, work well. Had the inspectors felt that they had a free hand, and had all the shires been equally energetic, tbe pest might and probably would have been considerably diminished, but this was not the ease. Inspectors naturally, as the Argus points out, were ohary of compelling Councillors to follow out the provisions of ths Rabbit Destruction Act for fear that they night ba dismissed on some pretext far having harassed their employers or pal them to some personal expense. Than, while oae shire did its utmost to stamp out the pest, the neighbouring ihire might be equally apathetic, and it was felt to be useless to spend money m ridding a district of rabbits when, as soon aa it wa3 done, the rabbits from an adjoining shire Bimply swept down upon the cleared country. Then again the complaint was mada that the Government neglected to properly clear their public reserves of vermin, a dereliotion of duty which we have occasionally heard laid to the door of New Zealand Governments. General demoralisation evidently set m, and meanwhile the rabbite waxed fat and increased m cumb9rs exceedingly. The Government accordingly stapped m, and took tbe whole business under ita own charge. This was m 1889, when tha " boom" was at its height, and tfeo Government oould afford to be generous. The extra £15,000 incurred by this step looked a muob. smaller sum m those days than it does now, or else it night have occurred te the Government that they might make the Shire Councils oontinae to pay tho salaries at tbs inspectors. This, says ths Argaß, might well be dons now, but for the fact that the Ministry intend to largely redace the municipal subsidy nsxt year. Under the new system the seventy inspociors are admitted to have done their work well, and the reduction m ths numbers of the rabbits shows the valae of an organised simultaneous attack.