PROSECUTIONS UNDER THE RABBIT ACT.

Otago Witness, Issue 2396, 1 February 1900, Page 15

PROSECUTIONS UNDER THE RABBIT ACT.

The action of 'the Agricultural department in persistently prosecuting settlers for not poisoning rabbits is most noticeable just at the season of the year when trapping is about to commence. The chief of the Agricultural department (Mr Ritchie), acting under the instruction of the Minister, is prime mover in this system of persecution, and it 'is about time he was brought to book. It was no doubt very necessary to poison rabbits in days gone by, when the rodents were a perfect curse to the country, and their only value was the pelt. All this is now altered, and Great Britain will take every bunny that can te landed at her ports fit for human food. The pelts have also risen in value very materially, and now form an extremely valuable article of export, especially in winter time, when fur is good. The reason for the increased value is that the versatile Americans haye v discovered a method of making raDbitskins resemble the fast-disappearing sealskin. Considering that the rabbit trappers commence catching for the refrigerating chamber and tinning factories in lebruary, why should farmers be fined for having the rodents on their land in January? It is the landowner who feeds the rabbits, and not the Crowi^; and, in fact, j;he farms in this district are supplied with rabbits from the Crown lands ; and then the people are taken to court by the inspectors and fined. If all the rabbit inspectors and agents were sent into the mountainous and back country outside the trapping areas near railways, they might do a little good with poison ; but to place phosphorised pollard on the trapping areas at this season of the year is nothing more nor lei>s than a crime.

Catching rabbits for export is now becoming a great and profitable industry, and why the Minister for Agriculture and his department want to crush it is easily seen, as the permanent establishment of rabbit export means the practical extinguishment of the all too numerous staff of inspectors and their agents. It is a wonder to me that the farmers in this dictrict do not take the bull by the horns, and simply defy the inspectors in the matter of poisoning at this season of the year, when trapping is about to commence ; and let the whole colony see what an injustice is being done. Poisoning rabbits means polluting our watercourses and disseminating disease, as it is a well-known fact that rabbits having tafcen phosphorus immediately make for the nearest water, and they invariably die soon after partaking of the "cooling stream." So long as bunny is required as food for human consumption there is no occasion to poison within reasonable distance of factory or rail, and the action of Chief Inspector Ritchie continuing to persecute the farmers for having rabbits on their properties requires the strictest condemnation. He may retort that he is simply carrying out the act, but he must not overlook the fact that the statute making it penal to destroy rabbits has never been repealed, and it is just as much in force as the Rabbit Nuisance Act and its amendments. — "One of Us," in the Tapanui Courier.