CORRESPONDENCE.

Temuka Leader, Issue 5919, 6 October 1910, Page 1

CORRESPONDENCE.

(To the Editor). Sir,—Would you kindly give a little in your valuable paper to make a few remarks re the soft sparrow beaks. At the last meeting of the Geraldine County Council I noticed that Councillor Grant pronounced a judgment on Regan. W ell, if ho let’s him gor in peace perhaps ho will live all the same. This work that Rogun does for a few months in the year has been discussed and threshed out at public meetings year after year, and has been proved successful by some of the largest ratepayers in the Geraldine district who have had this work m operation on their farms. Now Mr Grant only gives credit to one man in this county to know anything about the destruction of small birds. 1 have got it by word of Mouth from Mr King himself, the patentee of the bird traps, that the Geraldine Road District had the best system in South Canterbury for keeping down the small bird pest. Surely Mr Grant would give credit to Mr King to know something about this business. To my idea this .• is per dozen is bad for the morals of the people and corrupting the minds of innocent children, in fact' the young and the old. Nobody seems to have any scruple when it comes to Is per dozen fvx heads. There are thousands of dozens of the wrong classes of birds coming into these places where this traffic is going on, all trying to ring in at Is per dozen. In fact I here was a certain ratepayer pressed that hard to get them passed that he offered me half the money to count them, and I have a witness to prove it. If Mr Grant does not believe this statement lie can enquire of some of his brother councillors who had seen some of this business with their own eyes. If Mr Grant would come into those places of traffic for a day and see for himself I don’t think he would favour paying away ratepayers’ money in this slipshod way of doing business. The bona lido farmer would not give Air Grant thank you for Is per dozen, if ho gets ways and means for destroying them. If Mr Grant sends a man with a few traps in theffpast few seasons to the neglected parts of Iris district and supplied the ratepayers with a HU u poisoned grain, some of whom come to Geraldine for poisoned grain and say they never saw a man in pursuit of birds either trapping or poisoning. It is little wonder that they for £IOO per mouth in the Temuka district, while Gdraldino only asked fur H. 50. Surely that ought to be good enough proof to Air Grant that the Geraldine system has been a good' one. farmers in the Geraldine district have picked up 40 and 50 dozen on their farms this past winter with poisoned grain. If Air Grant would carry out this system in his district he would save the ratepayers £1)0 in the £lllll.. I have been in Geraldine for a quarter of u century, and there is a gentleman who is worthy of the name on a lo*al body there during that time and is still (here. Surely (his gentleman should know something about the welfare of the district. This statement is a true bill, there is no heresy about it, and 1 take it on myself to know something about this business. Thanking you once more. Mr .Editor, for giving a space in your valuable paper, 1 am, etc., W. REGAN.