THE SMALL BIRDS NUISANCE.

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 14

THE SMALL BIRDS NUISANCE.

At lasfc week's meeting of the Southland s County Council a long letter from P. Tray nor, j Wycdham, read. The writer pointed cufc lhat he had observed the ravages wrought by ] the small bird.?, and asserted thai; if the pest * continued at anything like the sarae rate as in \ the past in a few years ihe birds will have possession ot the conn v ry. This year the farmers about Wye dham will lose about 10 bushels to j the acre, and ono faimer hnd Ies 1 ". a whole pad- , deck of 30 acres of lists. Pohouing had provad ; si failure, and he suggested t l'eccricity as a probable remedy. When birds are disturbed jn | a of oats they settle on the wire fences, < aud if a fmall dynamo and engine were ecu- j jiected with the wires the d.e3ired results would ; follow. Or Raymoud njoved tbafc the Govern- J xnent bs asked to oIL-r a subststitial bonus to j any person v.ho invents a sp u cifie or remsoy I that will teed to materially reduce the small \ bird nuisance. Ht thought the time had arrived • when something should be done in the master, > but it was no uso for the couoty council to j lake the nutter up unless obher x^ublic bodies also took action. He thought it was wit'oin the function oi the Government to offer a substantial sum, and then probably some one would ' s;me forward with a schema to successfully reduce Ihs pest. The destruct'on of grain was becoming alarmiDg, as any person travelling ■through (Southland could realise. — Or Hamilton said he did not entirely agzee with •the moticHj bub thought that the birds should be kept ia check. In the early days — lon;j before ihe birds came —he iiad a cop of barley cleared by caterpillars atd oats also suffered greatly through the same cause. — Cr Waid said the best way to t keep the birds in coeck would be to try to ex- j terminate tLtm altogether. He thought stren- j ■uous efforts should be made to cope with the i pest, and if the Government was appro iched j some assistance might be obtained. — Cr Frases: j said that io his district some farmers were too > lazy to use the poison although it was supplied : fan nothing, and until a law was passed to com- j pel thetn to do so the pest would continue. — Cr j M'Quseu said that this year the fa'mors esti- i mated a less cf from three to four bushes to the acre. As tor rabbits, the loss through them 'would be practically nil, and the quaint; of food they consumed was not mitsed. Some thought | that the Small Birds Nuisance Act should come j into force, bafc if the experience cf thnf-e con- ; nected with rabbit inspectors went for anything, j no good results would tollow, btcau'e lb was very evident the rabbit inspectors were now a greater nuisance to farmers than the rabbits. I Although a lot of money had bacn spent; to destroy the birds, the damage done was alarm- : icg, and it was no use sweating veugeancd | against the pests now and leaving them alone j iv the winter months when the destruction s Bhonld be done. Instead of spending £20 par riding, th'.t amount should be 'doubled, and if. the farmers were too lszy to do the work the counc 1 ought to employ men, and a bold, effort bhoul'l b<3 made during the cjnvng sesson to cope with the pesb. — Gr Robertson said the motion seamed as if the council was going to | ■wait fcr the Government to no something, and i while* agreeing with i 4;i 4 ; he thoughc they should i tdi reJax their efforts. If the Government ] Epenfe £10,000 and found a remedy, ihe rroaey ■would be well spent —Cr Green paid that farmers shoul'l start poisoning earlier and k;ep it j up later, and tin nuisance would be mo c fcuc- j eessfully kept down. — C? Dunkp sa : d the question did not afFect his riding s-> rruch ?s xae others. There were six boroughs within his riding which did not contribute znytt.i-.ig towards destroying the birds, and he thought these municipalities should be a=ked tf h<-lo — The n.o'.ion was carried unanimously — Soiathfc.nd Time?.