WHO BROUGHT THE RABBIT.

Taranaki Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 11315, 6 September 1898, Page 1

WHO BROUGHT THE RABBIT.

A Southlands^, in a paper read at the Agricultural Conference, says :— The commencement of the so-called rabbit nuisance' was coincident with the introduction into Southland of the com' mon English gray rabbit, about the year 1862. This was effected by two officials of the then Provincial Government. That these gentlemen were, actuated by the best of motives, there' can be uo possibility of doubt, and it would be as unfair as it would be useless to blame them for an action which, at the time, appeared to be entirely harmless, and which was even regarded by some as one to be highly commended. iFor a number of years prior to that date, domestic rabbitß bad been turned out and were running wild in different parts of the country, but these did not increase to any extent. The original importation of Uhe English wild gray rabbit' was turned out on the sandhills between ' the estuaries of the Ureti and Aparima rivers, where the new arrival found a congenial home and multiplied exceedingly. , The belt of land is probably • about twenty miles io length, and about a couple of miles in breadth ; is bounded on one side by the ocean, and backed up by swamp and bush. For a period of about eight or ten years, the animals teem to hare been conservative to a raatf (or rather to a rabbit) in their opinions ; but about that time a complete social revolution appears to have set in, the party of progress arose and from that hour their motto, like that of Nansen, the Arctic hero, has been ' Onward,' and so they marched northward to conquer the land.