KIWITEA RABBIT BOARD

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 3287, 5 March 1926, Page 3

KIWITEA RABBIT BOARD

The monthly meeting- of the Kiwi tea Rabbit Board was held at Kiinbolton on Wednesday last. There were present Trustees A. P. Francis (chairman), IW. Hair, W. L. Grice, A. Frown, G. : Kroger and T. D. Wood.

1 The monthly meeting 1 of the Kiwitea Rabbit Board was held at Kiinbolton on Wednesday last. There were present Trustees A. P. Francis (chairman), 1 W. Hair, W. B. Grice, A. Frown, G. : Kroger and T. D. Wood. I Trustee Mackley was granted leave of absence from the meeting. The following correspondence was read and dealt with, viz.: From the secretary, Rabbit Boards’ : Conference, advising that the annual conference will be held at Feilding on hlarch 23, and requesting the Board to appoint two delegates and forward any remits or suggestions for consideration by the conference not later than March 9, 1926. Trustees Grice and Hair were appointed to represent the Board. ; General. Trustee Francis gave notice of his intention to move at the next meeting of the Board that the resolu--1 tion passed on the 10th day of FebI ruary, 1926, as follows: ‘‘That this Board will not be a party to any agreement on the group system where the employee is allowed to have the skins of the rabbits destroyed by him,” be rescinded. ! Finance: Credit at bank (excluding this meeting’s accounts), £226 15/10; amount on fixed deposit at Bank of, Now Zealand, £600; total balance, £826 15/10. Accounts amounting to £lO5 10/4 were passed for payment. Inspector’s Report. The chief inspector’s report for the month of February, 1926, read as follows: — I herewith beg to submit the following summary of the work carried out by your inspectors during the past month. Ruahlne, My assistant at Ruahine reports that in his area a lot of good work has been done during the month, but on the other hand several settlers have been too slow in getting to work, especially in the matter of strychnine poisoning, as in his area phosphorised pollard is not having the desired result, there being far too much grass about. He also stated that in the matter of forming them-j selves into groups with the object of employing permanent rabbiters, very few of the settlers are showing much i interest, some wishing to put the mat-1 ter off until after the winter, others declining to join any group at an.j thus hindering what he considers the 1 only satisfactory method of dealing with the pest in his area. Rewa. My assistant at Rewa reports that in his area good work has been done; during the month with apples and strychnine poisoning, especially on I those properties where rabbiters have I been employed, but on other proper- 1 ties where permanent rabbiters are' not employed not nearly sufficient' work has been done. This also applies to some of the larger holdings where sufficient labour is not employed. Chief Inspector’s Area. In my own area most of the settlers have given phosphorised pollard a trial, but in very few instances has it given as good a result as in former seasons, at this time of the year. This I attribute to the fact that there has been a considerable growth of grass since the middle of January, therefore I have been advising all settlers in this area to get to work with apples, or carrots, and strychnine as soon as possible, as with this method satisfactory results 'can be obtained at any season of the year and under almost any feed conditions. Unauthorised Shooting. During the month I have had several complaints from settlers about unauthorised persons shooting in various parts of the district where poisoning opera-1 tions are being carried out, although! shooting in this district was prohibited since January 26, unless v, Ith the per mission of the Board’s inspectors. I feel sure that if this practice is to be stopped, your Board will have to take action in the matter, as it is very seldom that offenders are caught in the act. However, I propose to supply you with the name of the party who was found shotolng in a property at Waituna West where feeding foi strychnine poisoning was in progress. Trapping Prohibited, ' Another matter I wish to refer to is the matter of rabbit trapping, as I have had inquiries about this method of dealing with the pest, and I wish to inform all who are interested that I do not consider trapping a suitable method for this district, and further than that trapping is not countenanced by the Department of i Agriculture, by this Board, or by its inspectors. In so far tis this particular district is concerned, trapping was I the subject of a special order-in 'council issued on June 9, 1924, so j that any settler or rabbiter employing this method is not complying with the regulations and renders himself liable to prosecution. Groups. During the month I have attended two meetings of ratepayers held for I the purpose of forming groups for the employment of permanent rabbiters and in one instance I am pleased to be aMe to report that a number of settlers formed themselves into 1 three groups for this purpose. I feel sure that once settlers recognise the j benefits to be derived from this sysI tern many more groups will be formed. I may state that in the two ;*»eas already working under this system 1 the settlers interested have expressed themselves as perfectly satisfied with the results, the chief inspector beingj Instructed to take legal proceedings! against certain persons for shooting in the Board’s area without permission. The report was adopted.