THE RABBIT PEST IN VICTORIA.

Timaru Herald, Volume L, Issue 4871, 17 June 1890, Page 4

THE RABBIT PEST IN VICTORIA.

Viotoria is an example of how rabbits increase and spread m these Australasian 'colonies'. Not a "decade ago the ravages of the peat did not oxtend. beyond about twenty shires. At the present time aboufc a hundred shires are occupied, m most cases by countless numbers of these animals. Ihe losses to individual farmers and to the country generally through this rabbit plague may bo put down as incalculable ; while the outlay of the Government, m carrying out different measures' for the suppression of the nuisance, hae' totted .tip to upwards of £140,000 ; this amount is m addition to what landholders themselves have spent m endeavouring to kill off the rabbits and fence crops against their attacks. During 1888-89 the expenditure 1 by Government on rabbit extermination was £13 700. For the preient year Parliament has voted the large sum of £194,450, £32,000 of which i-i for killing rabbits, the remainder for advances to shiros for the purchase of wire netting, eto., bringing up the amount to £531,460, as the cost to Government m putting down the pest. In the history ot the operations against rabbits, a freah era has comrsecced m Victoria, the clauses of a new Act having been proclaimed m operation, which mates it incumbent upon every owner and , every occupier of infested hind to use the best of his means and ability m clearing said lands of rabbits. For several years the administration of Babbit Acts had been left, m the hands of the authorities, with the effect that m the place of the plague being kept under it has continued to spread with alarming strides, until it is now established m almost every part of the colony. An end has come to this divided authority, and Government assumes control over the whole infested land, whether alienated or not. The rabbit country is said to comprise an area of 44,000,000 acres, and through the passing of the Act at prosent m force, it is now for t 1 "" firat time pn.»ihU f.« tv» -orK or extermination to be, according to the wording of the clause " simultaneously commenced, continued and performed." In order to effectually carry on the work, a new department has been created, the Btaff of inspectors having j been increased to sixty-one, and as showing the amount of clerical labour involved, the printed matter sent through the post office m connection with bringing into effect the new' Vermin Act aggregated over half-a-ton m weight The methods to be employed m the extermination of rabbits are chiefly poisoning by means of chaff, or other such food a« may be found most suitable m different districts, treated with a solution of arsenic, and, above all, the complete digging out of all burrows and the destruction of such harbours as brush fences. The penalty which may be imposed upon any person who fails to take proper steps to clear his° land on the day named m the Government proclamation is specified m the Act as follows : — " Any occupier or owner who shall after such day have failed to have fully and continuously performed Buch duty to the best of his means and ability shall thereupon be guilty of an offence against this Act, and shall on conviction pay for such offence a sum of not leas than £2 nor more than £50 m addition to any other penalty or liability to which he ma? be subject, upon prosf being given that m the opinion of the chief inspector such occupier or owner has failed to have folly and continuously performed such duty to the best of his means and ability ; the bnrdeD of proof that Buch occupier or owner has complied with the provisions of this section shall lie on the defendant."