THE RABBIT NUISANCE AND THE INTERCOLONIAL CONFERENCE.

Timaru Herald, Volume XL, Issue 2919, 31 January 1884, Page 7

THE RABBIT NUISANCE AND THE INTERCOLONIAL CONFERENCE.

i The follovrfhg letter by Dr J. M. Creed, j published m the Sydney Mottling Herald, wqb communicated to the. lutercoloniai Conference,- and was laid aside by that body, ; on the ground that its subject lay beyond the scope of their functions : — giß, — -So lew persons outside the rabbitinfested districts seem to realise the national importance of the complete extirpation of this pest that I trust you will give me space m your journal for some few farther < remarks and suggestions. 1 By the Chief Inspector's report for the week ending November 21st, it eecma that out of 44 Inspectors 38 reported that during I that week tbey had fouud upwards of a million and a-half of acres infested, At the eamo rate we may calculate that the 12 Inspectors who have not reported have inspected another half million of acres m the like condition. Aa it is only reasonable to suppose that t,hey only Visit each portion of their district once m three weeks or a month, we may calculate that at the present 'time m New South Wales there are from six to eight million aores infested with rabbits. The report uhows that during the same week one rabbit is known to have been destroyed to ove'ry 136 aores infested and inspected. If, m addition, we generously allow that as many more were destroyed by the saturation oi their burrows with bi-snlphide of carbon, it seems that little more than three-quarters of a rabbit pcl 1 acre per annum are being got rid of, and this is done with a staff of 289 men. This number it is intended to increase to 403 men when they can be obtained, so that when the utmost that is proposed to be done is carried oiit'in. its entirety, a little over onn. third more rabbits will be destroyed, and t.be mngniSoeni) result will be tho destruction of a rabbit and- a - minute fraction per acre pur annuß). V- ' . '- - ■

I think the absurdly futile moans of destruction, as at present carried out, is obviously iibown by theao figures, for no one can doubt that ton times as many lire left m a healthy »igorous oonditioa to. curry on the plague. T.be report olso says thnt on 25 runs tho rabbits ore increasing, on 19 are (Stationary., and tbat m 73 they aredeoreasiui; ; but thieoan only be the case, eren if trrie, during th(i time that the destruction is being Tigorouely' carried on, and directly thirf ceases the trouble will, m a short time, be at bad as evor. lam informed by ono of them--solves tbat m the Wentworth district four statioribolders are spending, and eipoot to continue to spend, at the rate of £20,000 per annum between them Cop the . destruction of rabbits ; that they feel assured that even this expenditure will only keep the pest withiu reaionable bounds and not extirpate it, and that, were they to lesson their expenditure, they' would haro to abandon their runs m a very short titno, as being unable to carry any stock. That tbi» is no imaginary fenr is shown by the fact that, notwithstanding efforts at destruction, the Kuluiao run, which m 1830 cut 800 bales of »001, this jour only cut 300 bales, the run bring fully stocked m both years to its carrying capacity, the decrease being coneequent en the multitude of rabbits. As an-exsoiplo of the -rapidity- with which rabbits increase) when froo m suitable country, I am informed by a gentleman now m Sjdnoy that 16 ;fears eince he turned out on his run ioNewifealand, believing he could keep tho Tiurrjbers! ' witlim . boonds, two pairs of rabbits. These, within three years, increised to suoh ({nantities that at least 12 men were kept constantly employed m their destruction, yafc failed to do moro than kenp thorn from insreasing. I am informed that tho Oiiverm-filot of New. South Wales forbid the payment for destruction by a bonue per scalp for all destroyed, on the gronnd tliat thqn the men will only work m thn thioklyinfested places, and will leave those alone which have only a few rabbits on them untjl they ba?(i multiplied . and established fcbfmeelses, und that therefore it is better to pat by weal ly wages. .The disadvantage of tb.it 'decision is — first, that it involves tho employ■ment'ol nn overseer to superintend each gung of men, »s many, except when directly indei 1 his eye, would cease work, to lie on their backs int-hetbadei secondly, the men who would Most frequently have opportunities to destroy j^fjbit-a on runs only commencing to be itir TCbgted would be the boundary. riders, itook(Men, etc, m the course of their ueual work, 'arid th} knowledge that the production of i» rabbit: acWlp would" entitle them to n «int>V} tarn of money would keep them ulwnys on tile Jofjk-ont, so that the earlier, comers would be destroje} 'before they became fully, oatabiljihed. , , > 1: lawn that some of the stockholders of ■the- northern and north-eastern portion of the colony are commencing to objeot to beins taxed, beoaunr'they aafthßt'tbe pent will novei- reaoh them, . To iljow how little they are justified m thinking tbat their trouble will bf long delayed, I may state that during thejait eighteen months rabbits have Hpread from fjQO to, 26.0, miles further up the eutt bank cf the Darling Biver, and that unless aijtive ß>od united measure* ute. taken, it will not t«ie many years, at tlia same rate of progrfia, before they arrive (oTen snppiising they enly follow, .the opurte of the rirer) at New- England, by the route of the Ba?w»n and' J(!clntyrQ. Did those gentlemen object to,.! b<> specially taxed for this, object msrsl;f , because ■ they are stockholder)!, and becwufe, the evil . is a national one, ooncernjiig every jnaD, woman and ohilcl in _ tlfo pomraqnilyj I think; their objections would rost on* ipundcr basis. , Witli the foregoing figures and faots before theto,; po ope will assert tho destruction of rabbi ;s by men,, with, traps, poiaon. dogr, and rudb rwill do more than keep the post m par, tinjtubjeotion daring the time thtit these menu ires nre being actively carried on, j.nd that. t(? continue Nevr South Wales as a wc.olprpdimng country it must never aeaue, so that the charge will be perpetual if no other meju.«, ,are employed^ v One of these, no doubt, is the turning loose of a number ol the smaller carnivora, forretn, &,o. [ but until these are so numerous as tc< bo m proportion of say. 1 per, oept to the robbit» m thn iliitript),, the effect will not', bo very marlied, whilstif they are so, effeofcivu at to fiitirp-vte tho I'abbitn, therp wjllbe.pua^borless ferocious bU]o3-thic<|tj little b,ratesj half-«tarvinz, and difiven bj hunger, ,t6 ; . destroy every hand of ro u] try and young, lnmbf,' ,s.iid to froqunotly ■(.task children m tho ,- oradlo — this Jitter bcicf no. imaginary risky fur cvon with the carefully-fed and caged ferrets m Kngl&nd,' eveij y yea?t ea? a few {newspaper pivrngrapht ap-pca't-giving accounts of - attacks on young children by ferrets which. ,jud ciaoaped ; and iolndi%;l am informed on good:*atJiority, thai this frequently happens with thn toongtiosc, wbiph is moro fierce and bloodthirsty. As to;tba. poultry,; sorar of, , tho inhabitants of Saininer, Hill enr^ testify jo its powe'J otdast ruction, as exemplified l>y ono wliioh reosDtly escaped from the quarantine ground at ,bf.t(.p}Bi!e. .;. i , . , „ ■ Jp my . qp\m<m,.. the onlj roftlly nffectiie mean* to extirpate rabbits is by the threading of a difeaso among, them whioh will kill tbjirjx off, and .render the few survivors tin wt<akly nncl degeperate a* to be unable to pTi>n»Kate their species. This, I think, might be done without: risk of thp.epreitd' of. tho (jiiiea^e employed from them Id muc or the ot:or animals. Tubcroulbtis would, 1 boliove, Im elective) and without serious risk. I's ofl'cctiTenesj, aDd-the-enwiunt of this risk, oould be/eifjly det«raiin«d by -an expe^imont ot a large" soato,, tp be,. pLrrlcd" oni, under pioper supervision, on orie of the islands m tbe Mnrray Rivor, whnro rabbits are, and wbore tbfe 'diseaift ihigtit bo isolstod until pi-oVed^But'sHgHUy;' ori^ot at nil, comrtdntcsrtlle 'to iheep also placed- theie-. It ftti»t not beforgotten thai; it 'is 'nw present it! tbe flook»''iind' herd* nf t!je ■■ oblony, tatA that numerous bm*W tttflbring from it are slaughtered every day at tho Uydney übattoirf. In addition to this expttifftentj ! W »>mp«t«tit person or persons should be eent't^Taiimamn t<> inouire into the" JubwoulttUti iamobg rilibitssaltftffbo present on l.bo Kllenthorpe llstate tbere. - v •>■ i ■■■'<■' ■ < ■■■-"< ' A : Two American gentliiftieni fiow^itr^jflnoy, totthni tbat irt California, wliere>iku» need to bg-BlcemitelTTdimcrmit, during thn last 10 jeirs !(JieJr'-l>i»*l>oeß. almost extiiiiiaftod by a diwßie which, from tfaoirdetaription,! believe

to bij a form of tuberculosis, and it it believed m t, few years there will not be one left. Tboy also tell me that, notwithstanding it is so fatal, and apparently so easily communicable to bareu, it attacks no other animal. I may. say that there are do- wild rabbits, suoh as we have, m California, but it is probable that they, ii brought into contaot with the disease, would be equally susceptible to it, bel«nging as they do to to olosely allied a speciiea of the Bame gonus. One of these gentlemen, who leaves by the next mail for California, has promised to make every enquiry for mo ioto tbia <3i»00.e, will obtain preparations of its morbid manifestations m tho aoimalß, and will, if possible, bring with liim on hiß return m March next, live specimens of havoc infected, or rabbits inoculated from them, bo that Mr Willows, the Government veterinarian, and myself may make onguiry into the pathology of the disease, with a view, if it is one that will be easily capable of being spread amongst rabbits but di&icult of communication to other animals, of utilising it m their extirpation m the infected portions of the oolony.

Ho eeriouß a national evil, however, should no'; be left to tho efforts of private individual for its remedy, but thOBO of the Australasian colonies who are infested should take united action, and offer a very large bonus for the dificorory of some remedy whioh should, before ifc was paid for, be shown to be effective m absolutely extirpating rabbits m some large district where it should be tried. I think that it would be possible to cultivate a special disease, which, after s. time, should poetess the characteristic of being easily interoommunicable, and positively fatal amongst rabbits, yet not infeotious to any other animal. This being arrived at, the problem is solved, and the most terrible peril to their prosperity (o which the Australasian colonies have ever bi'on exposed will hare been averted. That the cultivation of some disease having such special characteristics is no mere chimera is shown by the report of Mr Willows on anthrax amongst sheep m the Lachlan district. This disease, which m. its ordinary form, is easily oommunioable between and rapidly fatal amongst nil graminivorous animals, has beoome so modified by continuous transmission through sbtiep only that it is aow m that district strictly confined to them, cattle and horses grazing m the infected paddockE without serious risk, though sheep often die within one hour after iofeotion. It would probably require men liavisg a spsoial aptitude for such research to bring the project to n successful issue, and therefore to induce such men as Pasteur, of France, and Kohn, of Germany, to devoto themselves for a sufficiently long time to this object, tho sum offered should be large — porhaps, bnt for thu magnitude of tho benefit 1.0 be obtained, an amount wbinh would bo considered excessive.

The direot loss dnrine the last year from .rabbits m New Zealand, Victoria, New South Wales, Tasmania, and South Australia was £2,800,000, and this loss is steadily increasing year by year under tho present ineffective measures taken for their destruction. There colonies should conjointly offer a bonuß of £50,000, less than 2 per cent on the present annual loss, to the person or persons who should find out a. means that, without unreasonable cost, sh;ill, within a period of, say, three or five years from the time it is first commenced to be used, completely clear a given largo district of the rabbits m it. The only moans I think it possible by which this could bo effeoled would be by the originating of some such disease as I have foresha'joirod, the cost of destruction by -which would when found out amount to only a few coore pounds. Tho offering of such a turn as I suggest wonld enlist many of ths beit minds of the world m the enquiry, and -would without doubt lead to good results. The expenditure would only be incurred if success wore insured ; and this being tho case, £60,000 would be a very small sum as compared with the benefit received. In addition to this, I would suggeßt that the New South Walos Government make such arrangement as would enable some competent gentlemen— and I would especially name Professor Anderson Stuart and Mr Willows — to conduot tin erqairy and carry out experiments with a similar object m view. Should they be tho first successful discoverers, they should r<'ofive the reward, the cost at which the Government have been m enabling them to carry but their researches being first deducted.