THE RABBITS AND THE FERRETS.

Tuapeka Times, Volume XX, Issue 1427, 8 February 1888, Page 2

THE RABBITS AND THE FERRETS.

The Babbit Department is determined to give the ferrets a thorough trial in this district, aad the local inspector and his agents are going to work in the most energetic manner possible to secure a decisive result either one way or the other. An earnest of this firmness is given in another column, where the inspector, Mr Miles, announces his intention of protecting the natural enemy in terms of section 28 ! and 29 of the Babbit Nuisance Act. Whatever we may think of the ferret as a remedy for the rabbit pest, we heartily approve of Mr Miles' determination to give it a fair trial ; for the pest largely owes its existence to the vacillating administration of the Department, and the half-and half manner in which the different expedients for its extermination have been carried out. While the rabbit has been gathering strength and extending its ravages into new country, destroying the pastoral wealth of the land in its onward progress, the Babbit Department has been indulging in all sorts of extravagant whimsicalities, one day doing one thing, and the next day quite the opposite. It must be apparent to all observant minds that the heads of this costly department of the public service have never yet seriously taken the rabbits in hand ; they have not tried to encompass the evil, but have merely satisfied themselves by trying to keep it within certain limits. The day has come when a final effort must ;be made to get rid of the pest ; and | we trust that next session of ParJia- | ment will bring forth something definite and satisfactory. In the meantime, we trust the settlers will not hesitate to give Mr Miles every assistance in their power to have the capacity of the ferret for good or evil tested beyond doubt. It is as well, perhaps, that they should be conversant with ! the clauses of the Act under which the inspector is proceeding. Section 28 j gives the Governor power to declare any animal to be the natural enemy of the rabbit, and prohibit the capturing or killing of any such animal without a special permit in that behalf ; and section 29 provides that any person capturing or selling, or disposing of, or killing, any animal so declared to be a natural enemy of the rabbit, without a permit signed by the inspector, or in whose possession or on whose premises any such animal shall be found by any inspector or by any constable, unless such person shall prove that the animal so killed, sold, or in his possession was lawfully in his possession, or that the same was in his possession without his knowledge or consent, shall be liable to a penalty of not leas than £5 nor more than £20.