EAST WAIKATO RABBIT BOARD

Putaruru Press, Volume XX, Issue 1183, 23 May 1946, Page 4

EAST WAIKATO RABBIT BOARD

QUARTERLY MEETING The quarterly meeting of the East Waikato Rabbit Board was held in Putaruru on FYiday, Mr. J. S. Allen presiding. ' Mr. E. Lord, inspector, in his report, stated that the board had now commenced ito 15th year of operations, and a few ratepayers seemed to have forgotten the conditions of a few years ago. • - In two cases last summer the inspector had found i-»hfbiY> in warrens on open paddocks which the owners were aware of, but had not reported l . In fact, one had admitted that he had 1 left them, as he liked to get a rabbit occasionally with the gun, and had not thought they were doing any harm there; overlooking the fact, continued the inspector, that they were liable to spread, and in fact had done so. It had taken him two and a half days with spade and gas to fill in the old burrows the ralbbito had re-opened, when half an hour would have done the job had the owner reported the matter when the first litter of rabbits appeared.

The inspector appealed to all ratepayers once more to ring up and report any rabbits they see frequently in one place.

The district, stated Mr. Lord, had been maintained for some year*? now with .a staff of three, at a fairly low cost to the ratepayers, an d the co-operation of all was still needed to keep this up. It musit.be realised that each trapper had 70,000 acres to cover.

Concluding hie* report, the inspector stated that he was glad to report that in most cases help was forthcoming. At present the Tirau trapper had no tyres and was having to - sis a push bicycle, but as ammunition was now plentiful, and more young men . were getting back on the farms, ha considered that tho stray rabbit would not find things too easy. Given the co-operation asked for, stated Mr. Lord, he had every confidence rabbts in the district would be kept down.

The inspector also reported that the total number of rabbits killed during April and May' was 525.