THE RABBIT QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 7

THE RABBIT QUESTION.

A weli-attended meeting was held in the Glenore Schoolhouee last Tuesday evening to ventilate grievances regarding the working of the Rabbis Act. Mr Miller was called fco the chair, and those who had been instrumental in convening the meeting at oiice brought forward resolution". These caused considerable debate, and were followed by amendment after amendment. Ife was resolved — " That as rabbits, like wild birds, belong to no one, no one should be held responsible for their damages." It was aho resolved — " That those whose grounds are infested by rabbits should be compelled to destroy them, bsit should bo allowed to get rid of them as they think fit." This motion was meant as a protest agaimt; compulsory poisoning at particular seasons. A further motion was carded to the effeob " That tha act should ba amended so that evidence of a farmer having done his best to destroy rabbits on his ground should be sufficient reason for his not; being fiaed." Tha mover explained that in some recent prosecutions, where the farmers Eutamoned had baen fined, sufficient evidence of this had been forthcoming, bub, because rabbit 3 still abounded, coming in from large tracts of uncultivated ground around, it was impossible to wholly eradicate them, and the mischief of it was that the owners or occupants of the surrounding land making fewer efforts were nob molested by inspectors' notices and court summonses and fines. It was also resolved — "That Government should dismiss all its inspectors and give their salaries as bonuses t'er Bkins of rabbits, large and small, all the year round." Several other motions were propounded, but either fell to the ground from want of seconders or were negatived on a show of hands. As the meeting was a public one, and represented both farmers and trappers, it may easily be inferred that most ot these abortive motions were class ones. Several of them pointed more to the successful farming of rabbits than to their extinction. As a whole, however (our correspondent writes), the meeting was a useful one, and showed that all present were more or less ignorant of the provisions of the Rabbit Act. It

Nimmo and Blair, Dunedin, will send Seedling Single Dahlias and Vehbenas post fr.ee £<X wtiGStf of ss ; siugiyi <fc get cluwt

is to ba iop J d that ivheu nexS tho qaestiou is debated a copy of tbe aci may be on tae (able. Atter resolving to meet again in a month and awarding a vote of thanks to the chair the meeting terminated. THE RABBIT QUESTION. TO THE EDITOR. Sir, — As cur country districts are at present; suffering from one of the most unjust and arbitrary acts our much misgoverned colony has ever had the inisfortuae to labour under, and as I think I can throw some light upon ths matter as far as the Kurow district is concerned, I should be glad it you could find spacs for this letter. I allude feo the recanS commands of the Minister for Lands to the sbock inspectors, insisting on tham compelling all farmers aud ruaholders to immediately lay pollard poison for rabbits, thus throning thousands of man who are now earning their living trapping for exportation out of c mploy ment, and causing a waste of food which is simply lamentable and totally unnecessary, besides causing the formers and runholders an annoyance aud expense which is quite uncalled for and perfectly useless, and making a complete hath of the whiter poisoning. It is a great pity that the Hon. J. M'Ke.bzie did no>j mike himself acquainted with, the state of the case before he took such extreme measures. Had he dnio so ha would have been compelled to admit that since the exhaustive trapping that took place in the district ln.3t autumn it is clearer of rabbits thau it has been for the la*t> cix years. Every p!ob cf ground from which rabbits could ba conveyed to packing works wus trapped until noi, auooher could ba caught ; every boy in the township, besides all the men earaing a good wage, found a. corner to set his traps. In proof of my statement I bring before your notice the following fact: — About eight weeks ago a gentleman engaged in rabbit exportation was iv Kurow with thg idea of putting up a packing shed for this purpose. He stayed three evenings looking round the district, aad ab ths end of that time he to:d me that there were not anything likd enough rabbits to make the business pay. He then left, and he was a man who kaew what he was about. Again, does the Minister know that it is perfectly useless to expect to get anything lik*) such a clearance by pollard poison during the hot, dry weathor as by trapping ? • Does he know, or has he ever heaird, that the hsafc simply converts it into a powder in a few nous,' which the fir&fc putf of wiad blows away ? And ia the rabbit going to eat it, even if it stayed on the ground, as long as it can get a bit of anything else ? Ao odd one or two may, but to get anything like a clearanca it must be in the winter time,. when there is nothing for them to eat. What, then, ia the object of this persecution ? I? it a deliberate attempt to keep the money out of the wcrking men's pocket? or is it jusb a total incapacity to master ths fact 3of the cage ? He eay3 he was eaten out himself by rabbits No wonder. And now he wants to teach others how to keep tbe pest down — men who succeeded where ho owns be failed. It is lucky for him the rabbits are not carnivorous, or his fate may have resembled a certain bishop we have beard of : Fly ! Lord M'Kenzie, fly away, Ten thousand rabbits are coming this way ; They whetted their teeth against the stones, And didn't they grind the minister's bones ! Ifc is lo be hoped Irs fellow Ministers will bring a little common sense to bear on the question. Ifc is -a well-known and established iact that squattei-s can keep the pesfc uuder, and will do so if left alone. They have too much sense to sit down and allow. themselves to be eaten out if Mr John M'Kenzie did ; and the charge of farming rabbif s is ridiculous — their interest lying all tb.B other way. It would be interesting to know in what condition Bas'uy Park ia with regard io rabbit?, and how offcen the inspectors worry the manager thtire ! Poisoning should be absolutely prohibited within a certain radius cf any rabbit factory until the end o£ May ; and we Lave no doubt the vo : ce of the people will eventually briDg this about in epite of any number of Hon. John H'Keczies, for if he persi3is in fchis foolhardiwss he will never get another working man's vote. I have no monetary interest in pastoral matter I',1 ', but am well qualified to speak about the state of the district, for no one saea more of ife. Thanking you in anticipation, — I am, &c, W. E. Stfvsns, M.R.C.S., L.B.C.P. (Lond.). Kurow, March 2.