THE RABBIT QUESTION.

Otago Witness, Issue 2303, 21 April 1898, Page 14

THE RABBIT QUESTION.

TRAPPING V. POISONING. (Southland Times.) 24.— Waikaka. » . Rabbits are selling in the district at from £1 to £1 2s lOd per 100, or 5d to s£d per pair Big boys and little boys, girls aud tvomen, are all on the job. Hundreds of men of all grades of life, from the profound to the giddy the old stager to tho young nipper liardly able to set a trap, are all huntingbunny It is safe to say that the rabbits put more money into direct circulation, than any other single industry at the present season of the year It is a poor Land that cannot trap Ms 50 rabbits a day, and a good hand will pot h« 100 odd, or to figure it out in v ages it means from. £3 to £6 a week. . . If faryning rabbits pays so well, why not farm rabbits? Better farm, rabbits than stoats and weasels. It is a positive fact that there are fewer rabbits about this season than I bave known for many j r earis, and can we wonder, when two rabbits means 6d? I believe J am stating a fact when i say that if rabbit trapping i - put a stop to the Government vdll discover that employment for hundreds of men will have to be found. 25 . — SPHiyGHILLS. The general opinion is that trapping is nardly siifficient, and that simultaneous poisoning after the factory season is required to keer> rabbits in cheque. There is strongfeeling against trapping and poisoning going011 together Owing- to the very wet season jrabblts are scarce in this district. 26 — llivejrton (. do not think that in tbe Aparima Riding bhe farmers are more unanimous on any sub-

jeer than that of trapping v. poisoning. . . . The introduction of the "' natural enemy ' was not enly a failure as far as rabbits were concerned, but played Old Harry -with the good wives' hen roosts. Luckily the blood thirsty little vermin Lavo not increased, and a .silly aud expensive scheme has failed. Poisoning has drmbtle&d .been of great benefit, particular-

ly on the runs, and where winter fed is not plentiful, but in a highly cultivated district like this, where large breadths of turnips are annually grown, and where young grass is abundant, early poisoning- is a failure, and it ; - pretty well known that the rabbits left seldom lake poisoned grain well from the second E'-v.-ii-g. There has always been a loss of stock from the use of poisoned grain on the farms; perhaps not very great, but yet sufficient to cause annoyance and anxiety, and the ! destruction of the native game lias been very great. The whole fcecret of keeping down the pest is to make it pay to kill. The preservingworks are doing this, and a more suicidal policy than that of enforcing poisoning until late in the season could not be adopted. It would be far better to give a price for trapped rabbits unfit for the preserving works up to the end of July, and then insist upon a general poisoning, than to interfere with the trapping before that time. To do otherwise simply means the loss of a lot of money to the country, and an increase (probably a large increase) of the rank and file of the unemployed. lam quite sure from my own observations that trapping has been more efficacious in this district than poisoning, and it is absurd to suppose that many of the trappers would care to leave a breeding stock on the ground. As long as it pays to kill they -will kill. WOODLANDS. Woodlands correspondent of the Wyndham Herald : —So much lias been said and written upon this subject lately that it seems superfluous for me to start, but I shall confine my remarks to a phase of the question which so far- has scarcely been touched upon — that is, its commercial aspect. The average quantity of timber for packing frozen or preserved rabbits passing here daily is six trucks going north. Giving these a mean of i 2000 each, and the railage at Is 6d per hundred, what must the railway revenue . amount to during the season? This is only ; one branch. They also have the carriage of : the rabbits to the many packing or preserving depots, aud these- again to the different -ports after they liave been packed in the timber above noted ready for export, so that the railway revenue must benefit to the extent of several thousands of pounds. The sawmills had to cut this timber, and those six trucks -would represent to them roughly about £50 (or £300 per week). This, as I have said, applies entirely to timber passing here going north. I am told that the local sawmillers' j cheques amount to some hundreds of pounds I each season for local consumption, packing, &c. At Winton and Bluff it cannot amount to much less. My remarks so far have shown how the timber industry is affected by rabbit catching v. poisoning, the number caught by ferreting and dogs falling very little short of what are caught by trapping. In addition to this there is the coal, tin-plate, and otb,er necessaries for preserving, which materially affect railway returns. I think that I am within tlie_ mark when I say that not less than 1000 individuals, comprising both sexes and all ages, devote the g-reater portion of their time during the season to the work, I and that their average return is £1 per week. This is foreign capital (as it is termed), introduced and- distributed all over Southland and Otago. I noticed tLat the Hon. John M'Blenzie stated at Wyndiam that poisoning ! following trapping was the most effective i means of dealing with the rabbits I shall ( relate a little experience which befell myself ' tvvards the latter end of last July, when the ! number of rai^its coming into the local fac- j tory was on the wane. I took my gun with | tbe intention of having a shot. I travelled ! 14- miles over country v/liich a few months ! previous was the worst rabbit, infested iv' : this neighbourhood, and over the whole of the ; district I saw only one solitary rabbit. As ' a portion of tbe journey was made in the > evening, when it is usual for any rabbits fcLat ■ may Tje about, to show themselves, I could only conclude"' they had no existence, and said to myself, " So much for freezing and preserving." TUAPEHA. Tuapeka Times:— We have of late heard" many arguments in advocacy of the retention of rabbit trapping, but the most convincing, in our opinion, is the large amount of money it puts into circulation. For instance, in Lawrence at the present moment there cannot be much loss than £200 a week spent by the two agencies in the purchase of trapped rabbits, in addition to which both agencies must employ half a dozen men in the work of packing, case-making, &c. Rabbits are this season being brought down to Lawrence from ! tbe Teviot, there being at present three teams i engaged in 'the traffic. Looking at such facts, j can anyone wonder at the strength of the j agitation which met and successfully resisted I the threatened interference with such a remunerative industry? I