UTILISING THE RABBITS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9095, 2 July 1888, Page 6

UTILISING THE RABBITS.

The habib of appealing to the Government in every difficulty that occurs, so prevalent in the colonies, is a strange one, and not unfrequently leads to 6fcranger results. It betokens a sad want of self-reliance on the part of the settlers, and an equally unfounded assumption that the Government for the time-being are composed of Knowalls. Bufc so soon as one set of men cease to hold olfice, they are not supposed to bo any longer possessed of this wonderfully diversified knowledge, and their successors are credited, for the time being, with all but limitless information. This absurd position taken up by otherwise sensible settlers leads to queer results. It has tended to foster a spirit of dependence upon the Government, and want of self-reliance and self-assertion, which has been frequently the cause of much expensive and useless legislation being imposed upon the country. The prevalence of any particular weed, the result of carelessness, is made the subject of expensive legislative fads. The appearance of an insect among any crop, whether it be an introduced one or one native to the country which has gradually changed its habit by the change in its surroundings and food supply, results in farcical legislation being passed, such as the obnoxious Codlin Moth Act recently rushed through the House of Representatives. Thistles and other noxious weeds were legislated against twenty or more years ago, but the thistles gave no heed to Acts of Parliament or Governor's or Queen's assents, and the downy seeds spread far and wide, until at last the settlers found that the thistles were friends in disguise, and it became the practice of many settlers to purposely sow thistle seeds, having found that this plant was the best pioneer on fern lands for succeeding crops of grass and clover. For years past the same class of wild legislation has been in vogue in regard to the poor rabbits. They have been cursed for all that could bo uttered ; they have been legislated against by panic-stricken legislators at an enormous expense to an already over-taxed colony; they have been attempted to be uselessly poisoned, to be hunted by dogs, and the colony has been actually flooded by shiploads of stoats, weasels, and other cruel, savage, and bloodthirsty creatures to destroy the rabbits- from the face of the earth, with no profitable return. Our legislators have actually made it penal on the part of little boys and girls to keep pet rabbits in hutches within the colony; for what reason was never very clear to those who had not lost their "heads" over this rabbit business. The latest proposal is to destroy the rabbit by the introduction of a contagious disease by the importation of foreign-grown microbes. But all this fuss and fury looks very strange in the light of the large industrial undertakings that are being gradually established in different parts of the colony for utilising the rabbits instead of poisoning them in a wholesale manner, so that the air may be polluted by their decomposing carcases and the stream's become tainted and impure from the dissolution of their organised tissues. It is well known that the flesh of rabbits makes a toothsome article of food, and their skins and fur are articles of considerable value in the commercial world. It would have been naturally thought that the men selected to represent; shrewd and practical colonists wouH have inquired whether it was not possible \ ; utilize this animal &e an article ou, of I'.hdch ap 'it c ..Li \h> made,instead of sacla. nr the colony with a heavy annual cost hi trying to reduce their numaer3. But in epite of all this shortsightedness of our representatives, and several successive Governments, tho numbers of rabbits to be found in all the southern parts of the colony are likely to prove blessings in disguise. As an instance of what may be done and what is being done with the rabbits, we may give a few particulars respecting one firm engaged in the utilizing the rabbits as articles of trade. We allude to the Marlborough Rabbit Trapping and Meat Export Company, whose preserving works are located in the Marlborough provincial district. ThL company, knowing that the flesh of rabbits made excellent food, and that their dried skins were a-ticles of considerable value in London, started preserving works, at first in a small way, and engaged men to catch the rabbits for themby means of traps. Care was taken to' cook the food properly, and to put it up in tins, ornamented with tastefully-designed labels, lithographed in the best style at the New Zealand Herald Office; and from the first the company's products were in demand, both in the colonial and British markets. The result was that the premises were extended, and the manufacturing plant enlarged. At the present. time_ they have 54 hands employed—including tinsmiths, boilers, packers, labelers, casemakers, &e.—and, between the price paid for the rabbits and the wages paid to the hands, nearly £500 is weekly distributed. Surely the establishment of such industries as these is a wiser method of disposing of the abundance of rabbits than that recommended by the legislation at present on the statute book of New Zealand. The price paid for rabbits to the trapper is 3a per dozen, and each trapper makes his own arrangements with the owners of stations for the right to trap rabbits thereon. At first the station owners allowed the trappers the free use of the rabbits upon their runs, but they soon learned to charge a royalty, -which is, frequently, one-third that allowed by the Preserving Company. At; this price the station-master finds that the rabbits are more profitable to him than the sheep; and the trappers, boys and men together, average over £2 a-week, not a few making regularly from £6 to £7 each ; and ono, more skilful than the others, averages about £8 per week. Those are certainly good wages in times of depression The one who earns £8 a-week generally attends to about 200 traps, which are usually set upon a space not much over one acre in extent. The traps are set about three o'clock in the afternoon, and between that and six o'clock they are usually examined and emptied three times, and from six a.m. to three p.m. the traps are not set. From one station Mount Vernon station, owned by the Hon. Mr. Clifford, over 4000 rabbits are daily sent m tho company's works. Mr. Clifford employs his own trappers on .stated wages, and regards them as part of the station hands. Over 25,000 rabbits weekly are disposed of at this company's works. Recently the plant and premises were considerably extended, and it is probable that further extensions will be made before long. When the skins are dried they are baled up, and, together with the cases of prepared food, are despatched by the first opportunity to the London or other market. We learn that over 200 trappers are employed in the province of Marlborough, and what the number is at all the preserving works in the colony we are unable io say, but the number must be large. In the cry of tho unemployed has ceased to be heard, for rabbit-trapping is being found as convenient an outlet for surplus labour us our own gumfielcls are. We have tasted a sample of the article put up by the Marlborough Rabbit Trapping and Moat Export Company, and can safely affirm that it is really excellent. To aid in extending the sale of this article in Auckland, Messrs. L. D. Nathan and Co. have been appointed the sole wholesale agents for this district. There is room for almost limitless extension of thin industry, for the mouths in Britain are many, and as the rabbit tlesli is prepared in a variety of ways, almost everyone will find .some preparation which they like better than tho others. And us to the skins, it would bo a very difficult thing to glut the European market with these, so there is every indication of a permanont and growing trade being- opened up, and it will matter little to the runholder whether ho gets his profit out of sheep and wool, or rabbits and their fur, so long as his profit is a satiffactory one. Viewed from an industrial point of view, notwithstanding the prejudice in favour of the sheep, the fact cannot be concealed that rabbit farming will give profits bifi employment to a far greater number of men and boys than would tiocks of sheep, and it may yet be that the legislation at present existing respecting rabbits will soon cease to exist, and the rabbit be regarded as a friend rather thau as a foe.