Page 10 Advertisements Column 1

Otago Witness, Issue 1911, 6 July 1888, Page 10

standards, slotted to hold the wire In position. As there is nothing moveabl^ about the trap to get rasty or unworkable front any cause whatever < • I 1 U I v > i ( fjjjjjliljj LEVEL OP -CRgtIfNO|WSIDg (or to frighten the rabbit about to enter), there is absolutely no cost in maintaining the yard once purchased, as the rabbit when ineide is still unable to consume the bait. The rabbit is not killed er injured, but is simply trapped, its carcass being availabJa for food or for any purpose required, and its skin being free from injury and of a higher value per lb. than those trapped in the ordinary way, where skinsinr? often injured by the struggles of the Jtahlit to free itself. Its natural enemies mean while are neither killed nor injured, being smaller in size and free to enter and escape, through the trap itself or the meßh of the wire, ' TBIALS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIA. Mr Wright, 0.E., Sydney, through whose advice a firm of squatters in South Australia erected one of these yards as an experiment, writes that they have caught as many as 1500 rabbits in one yard in one night, and that they are highly ple»6ed with its working. Official reports from the Mining Department of South Australia will be published in an early issue of this journal. In Australia no food baits have been water holes being the favourite rcsort'i of the rabbit having proved sufficiently attractive to render rhodium, aniseed , turnips, parsley, or other baits unnecessary. In this colony, howerer, nt will be necessary to lay down an attractive bait, which may be protected by fencing, and need no further attention until that portion of the holding is cleared. TRIATS IN NEW SOUTH WALES. At the late Centennial Exhibition in Sydney, the special silver medal of the society was awarded for the invention. Exhaustive trials were held jat the Stock Quarantine Station, Randwick, the official report of which runs jas follows :— , I STOCK QUARANTINE STATION, RANDWICK. Januaut 23rd, 1888. " The rabbit-catching apparatus erected by Mr Wynne at the Stock Quarantine Station, Randwick, under the authority of Mr Bruce, chief < inspector of stock for New South Wales, was subjected to four separate trials, extending over a period of 10 days — viz , from Saturday, 14ttb iust , to Monday, 23rd. The trials wcro made with eight rabbits, of which three were old onesA and the other five rangiug in age from eight\ weeks upwards." .... 1 11 Trial No. 4 was made wifch a 3|-inch trap, \ fixed 12 inches above the ground on the inside, and armed with 11 spikes, bent from the horizontal position slightly inwards at the points. All the rabbits, as in the former trials, passed, through into the trap, but none of them succeeded in getting out again. Their food was. placed outside, and they made repeated and persistent attempts to get to it, but without success, ■ although the trial lasted from the 19th to the 23rd inst., covering a period of five days." GLENLYON STATION. Not knowing that the traps had been patented, i Mr James Cotter put up a trapped yard at 1 Glenlyon station in March. The result of which ' can be gathered from his letter of the 7th April, which reads as follows: — "Yours of the 29th March to hand. lam sorry to hear that I have been infringing on your patent rights in using the trap yards to catch rabbits. The largest catch which I have had in one trap in one night was 1000, thG next best 997, and 995, and I have often caught from 400 to 500. I have shown the yards at work to Mr Rabbit Inspector Vinden, and he thinks they do splendid work, and will report favourably of them to the Government." Inspector Vinden's report to the Mining Department, a copy of which they were courteous enough to officially present to the inventor, reads as follows : "On the morning of the 7th April I visited a trapped tank at Glenlyon statiou, in company with Mr Cotter, and the catch obtained for the night was 995 rabbits. The manager appears to take great interest in the work, and I understand from him that they have bad some very large catches— as many as 1000 or 1500 rabbits in one night." TERTAWrSIA STATION. tJnder the head of " Rabbit Destruction Extraordinary " the Sydney Daily Telegraph says : " Teryawynia in the Western District is probably one of the worst infested stations in the colony, and for the first half of last year over £8000 was paid for rabbit subsidy on this run alone. The proprietors, Messrs Wynne and Gilbert, saw that the old system of dealing with the plague was utterly useless, and refused to put on rabbiters as required by the act. So strong was their conviction that they allowed themselves to be fined rather than involve the country in any further useless and reckless expenditure, and they were accordingly fined £5 in the local court for disobeying the requirements of the act. But in stopping the old system they adopted the plan of erecting wire not yards for wholesale trapping, and the result has been really startling. Tho tanks are fenced " -^ ■""' £ J r'.-'lUf^'l ft" in with wire netting in which holes are laft just largo enough to admit a rabbit, i>ut these holns are armed with spikes pointing' inwards, so that