FOXES FOR FUR TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20537, 11 April 1930, Page 13

FOXES FOR FUR TRADE.

SUGGESTED IMPORTATION.

OPPOSITION BY FARMERS. " A PERNICIOUS ACTION." " The introduction of fnxes into New Zealand for any purpose would bo such a pernicious action that the farmers of the Dominion would be fully justified in taking direct action and killing them wherever they were to be found," stated the secretary of tho New Zealand Farmers' Union, Mr. A. E. Robinson, in commenting on (lie suggestion of Mr. Cambie to the Auckland Fur Club that foxes should be bred in New Zealand for the fur trade. " Sufficient harm has already been done," said Mr. Robinson, " by thoughtless and wanton experimenting with imported animal life in New Zealand. Although rabbits are now coming under control we can have no guarantee that the foxes introduced would not become a greater pest than the rabbits. Tho presence of any kind of fox in this country must bo regarded as calamitous. Since the fox is a burrowing animal its complete segregation cannot bo considered probable. As it is a native of colder climates it would probably need to bo bred in the higher and colder regions, where there would be greater opportunity of its escape and propagation."

Mr. Robinson asserted that the Farmers' Union unanimously and whole-heartedly would oppose any move to introduce foxes into New Zealand. Every farmer from one end of the country to the other would resist the movemenj. The Farmers' Union had already passed resolutions against the introduction of any beast or bird likely in any way to prove injurious to the, farming community and a remit of this nature was to be discussed at tho forthcoming conference at Whangarci.

In considering the industrial aspect of tho question Mr. Robinson was of the opinion that the prospects of fox farming becoming a profitable undertaking were almost illusionary. With the industry already well established in Canada and other countries there was no reason to believe that New Zealanders could successfully compete with them. Furthermore, there would be in New Zealand difficulties concerning adequate food supply.