THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 1130, 4 August 1883, Page 1

THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

The following letter has been extensively 'circulated among stocknwners :in other*. It shows in a most forcible wa\ the injury done to the country brabbits, and proves the necessity that exi3ts for some more effectual measure;being taken for exterminating them . Sir,—The ruin with which the rabbi' threatens New Zetland induces ran to lay before yon the following returns obtiirnd from the Registrar-General's Office ; .

A glance at the above will show that our efforts in the direction of increasing the products of the country have not been successful, and that some tremendous influence baa been working against us. What do we find 1 An increase in artificial grasses from 1874 to 1381 of 2,375,580 acres, an increase in the number of sheep of 1,280 232, and an increase in the value of wool of £75.065. What might have been expected to be the result, had no enemy been working against us, may be statbd thus . —An in crease in artificial grasses of 2,375.580 acres, estimating the carrying capacity at three sheep to an acre (allowing the country in its natural state to carry one sheep to two acres) ought to be followed by an increase of 5,938,950 sheep, and the increased value of export of wool, at 4s 9d per head, would be £1.584,698. The returns would then stand thus :

Her« then!we have an actua 1 annual lo>s of £l, 584,698 ! The fourth column of the returns shows that in 1874 we exported £1,878 worth of rabbit skins, whilst in 1882 the expori rose to £88,725, showing an increase of £86,847. The New "Zealand Agricultural Company's yearly statement shows an asßet of £5355 Is 9d for rabbit skins, but the cost of destroying the animals which yielded those skins was no less than £8745 3s 9d.

But now let us come to the loss by depreciation, occasioned by the rabbit, in die value of tbe lands of the Statj in Otago and Southl tnd alone. It is very difficult to estimate, with anv degree of accuracy, from any published statistics ; but if the Government deem it worth while to order the calculation, it miyht easily be arrived at. At any rute, w« know that 500,000 acres in the Waka'ipu district cannot, be re-leased at all—one half because it is too poor and rough, and the other half on account of the rabbit Then, with the exception of one or two runs, at the last sale of runs at the beginning of the year ; an average of 10|d per sheep, upset price, only was obtained instead of the average of Is 9d per head obtained previously, showing a loss to the country of per head, It is surely wi h in the mark to say that the State direcily loses eome £200,000 a year by this alone. The loss to the revenue, so far as it is derived from the Property-tax, the loss occasioned by the country being a waste instead of supporting a tax paying population, the loss of wool exports, the loss in value |of post oral country, the lohs in annual rentals, the loss in vain endeavor-' to decrease the evils of tho rabbit curse, added together, will, 1 a'n .sure, amount in the aggiegato lo unre than th« whole of tie interest to the outside cred'ttr, which according to the Colonial Treasurer's statement, has ranched £1,700,000. Go on as we are now doing, and we shall be a ruined community in ten years ! The mischief wrought injures us all: Hospital endowments, r Harbor Board endownents, Educational an<l University endowments, the shipping interest, merchants, tradesmen, laborers —are all affected.

I read in a newspiper that Mr M'Kenzie. M.H.R. for Moeraki, waxing warm on the rabbit quostion during his speech on the Addres*-in-Reply, went bo far as to say that' he would not be surprised if this rabbit question had the effect of turning out the Government,' nn (xpression of opinion at which Ministers are leportud to have laughed merrily.—Otago Witiiesn, June 30.

One of the most nofortir ale plvipes of the rabbit question is ihe incredulity with which the forebodings of alarmists have hitherto been treated, and hence, I suppose, the 'tnetry' laugh of of tbo S£ nieten; but, to my mind, the

abbit question i* one of the grave.t of h» (i;iv. It is possible iliiit ex<eptinu \wy be taken to some of my deductions from the abo-e returns, bill I submit that I have made, out a sufficiently Htmnjj case to b!iow that it behoves tbo Government to do its u'iiioM to check the f»sh that threatens tli- country with utter ruin, and which now find* a place of refiign on the lands of 'he Crown. Tue evil to-day is frreal ; in the future, it promises to be overwhelming. I hold then, that no sum is trio grout to offer as a reward, in this aud other countries, for the extermination of (he scourge ; no jmvhi too. larga to-.be. ajinua-'dy-devoted to destroying the raltiif, and no tax could he mote just th >n one levied for this purpose. United acion and the. ;id"pti >n of proper methods aie ne'-essnry, and if tie y he not resorted 10 soon, it is impossil'kto estimate to what extent the evil wd have, sprend it; l-ho ionise of a few ye;ir«

Ah lam desirous to interest, «it ho wearying you, I M 1 not now touch iijkw. the means that mig ! it be eradication of the evil, bat will reserve this for a future lettei, In the meantime I venture to hope that you will give .the mibji'ct that serious consideration which from its gravity it deserves, C. de V. Teschemakek. Notes—l have assunvd that there lias been no great increase between 1874 anil 1881 in the number of horned cattle, but on the other hand I havn not taken the root crops into account, and these would Hither fed the increased numb' r of cuttle or make the. loss i sheo,> m ire am'trciu. NeUnn. July 9 b, 1883

1 1 Land in j I Viilne Rub't Yr. Artificial Sheep. Woo! Skins Grasses.. Exported Exportd 18741,181,309 11,704,85312,832.095 1878 1875 1,434 982 3,398,15o 3913 187« 1,819,881 3,395,816 44h 1877 2,202.GAG 3 058,938 8038 18782.608,831) 13,009,33^3.292,807pi4Go 1 1879 2,897,911 |3,126,439146759 | 1880 3,341,289 3.169.3<KJ 00976 1881 3,556,949 12,985,08512,909,760 84774 1882 3,938,069 3,118,554188725 18834,322,562 i 1 i

Land in Yr. Anificiiil Grasses. i Value 1 Sheep. Wool Exported. 1874 1,181,3G9 1881 3,556,940 11,704,353 £2,834 695 118,924,0351 4,494.458