The Present Rabit Act TO THE EDITOR

Otago Witness, Issue 2298, 17 March 1898, Page 24

The Present Rabit Act TO THE EDITOR

! Pin, — WouH you allow me t-pace to make a fevv : remarks on the rabbit question, more paiticulaWy j with legirJ to the working of the present !'a l jhib ' Act. When it was passed in 18^2 people vreie ' f lightened that it was a case of the rabbits -taking i pjSbe-sion of th<j country, aud there w.vs some ; excuse for the measure. However, this i 3 now 38 yeais ago, and this ha 3 not yet happened, or is Jikely to. I have beeu resident in the Bruce County for the last 18 years, and of this I am per- , fuefcly convinced, that theie ha 3 been a decided decrease for the last three ytwrs, notwithstanding 1 inspectors' leports to the contrary. These report*, I may «-ay in pa«sin?, are not worth the paper taey ,' are written upon (although the so-called Agri- ,' cultural department does cost £60,000 per annum, j or Eeirly 2* per head lftvy on every one in tho I colony— a heavy charge, certainly), as theae men look to tha rabbic past to keep . them in good biilebs. One has on'y to . take up the lvpor' of a rabbitskin market to bear j rue out in this htatement, as I see by it that; j their pricj i? going vp — a moat unusual thing afc I this time of the year ; and, to ruy mind, a pietty. I sure sign of a faiiing otf in nunibers. Nob, s> many year^ ago I romeinber getting from Is It'cl alb for rabbitskins. This, at six skins to the Ib. means 3Jd each, or over 7d per pair. I c'&k did this lead to the v pest being farmed ? It is a question simply of do sheep or rabbits pay best, and I think no one who either farrnt - i ground or leases it for wool-growiug purposes will 1 give the preference to the burrowing animal ; their j ability to make holes being the very reason they i have net been got under altogether long ago. I See by " Drover's" notes that he is of the opinion poisoning twice a year will effectually keep rabbits in check, and even do more than this.. This is a mistake on cultivated ground, or as least on some of it. Mr M'Queen's opinion tallies with this. I have no doubt on high tussock country it will do all " Drover " says. " Drover" ■ will pardon my saying he does not know much practically on tha subject. My reasons for saying so are this ; He gave some time ago Mr Bucklaad's recipe for mixing pollard poison. This is too strong ; and, secondly, very few men give oats to rabbiters to mix— at least this is my experience. It should be done by the owner or some responsible party, and on small places laid by the farmer, with someone to help him. I agree with him re netting the Akaroa district. It and the Peninsula (Dunedin) are specially formed for doing so ; but netting in small places, in addition to being costly, especially to a man starting, is hard to make a job of in tome places — for instance, crossiug creeks liable to flood, and if roads intersect. Now, to my mind the factories are giving material help, in settled districts within a reason- ! able distance of the railway especially, in dealing i with the rabbit question. Ido not say for one I moment do away with poisoning. I lay it myself three times a year — in winter, say in August, when turnips are getting scarce, poisoEed oats ; in, say, October, pollard, especially at the holes, to kill the young ones ; and again in February, before the factories commence and the rush of harvest is on. i The present Rabbit Act has beea in force now [ for 16 years, and has been found wanting, sp that iit ia time it was done away with. It certainly is [ a disgrace to any country under British rule, as jit is most oppressive in its woiking. Nothing I short of plague of a fatal character justifies people' i being hauled into court and fined whether they [ are guilty or not. The feeling among those whom 1 it is supposed to benefit is certainly very bitter , againat it, and they will not put up with it much ' longer. Take the case of Mr H. Craig, mentioned in last week's Witness. This . man, according to what appears in your issue, seems to have done all that was, humanly speaking, possible. Yet he was summoned to court, fined, aud complimented by the magistrate and inspector 1 Did one ever hear of such a parody on justice, or aie the Government taking another means of increasing

tsxAf .on to raise the wind by fining innocent ]ii>on -3 ? It certainly looks extremely like it. .. n n w, in conclusion, we have it from the Rabbit <> .i.iriment that the pest has been got under in • 2 ii-iborongh. This is a statement I should like •..■> see verified by a disinterested person. Tint - ripping kills the natural enemy is true to some extent certainly, but so does poisoning, as cats especially fall victims to rabbits poisoned with phosphorus, as they seem partial to the intestines. Be the chicken cholera faice, ifc is time the -filing was stopped, as it is on a line with the introduction of both rabbits and small birds— brought in by men who knew nothing of what the consequences would be. If Mr Gilruth's knowledge of its effects is on a par with his statement that the application of turpentine is severe to use when tailing lambs, I simply say be knows nothing about it, and recommend him to try some on the next severe cut he may suffer from, when he will find it allays the pain, not aggiavates it. Thanking you in anticipation, — I am &c George Moore. Hillend, Balclutha, March 14.