THE RABBIT QUESTION.
The following is the text of a petition for presentation to the House of Representatives,. forwarded from Wyndham to the Waitahuna Farmers' Club for signatures in the district :—: —
" (1) That ever since the Rabbit Nuisance Act has been in existence olause 9 has placed in the hands of Inspectors a power which no accuser should hold, making them counsel for plaintiff and judge of the award. " (2) That the time has now arrived for an amendment in the said Act, whereby Magistrates shall under it be invested with full discretionary power, so that a verdict in accordance with the weight of evidence shall be the right of litigants. " (3) That at present the rabbit export business is a great and profitable industry in South Otago, the export almost equalling in value that of frozen meat, and thousands of persons being employed in it at a season of the year when work is otherwise difficult to obtain. Your petitioners realise that more stock could be carried on the land were there fewer rabbits ; but they are not insensible of the fact that there is infinitely more wisdom in trapping at certain seasons of the year than pursuing a policy of wanton destruction by rendering valueless carcases which are worth from 5d to 6d per pair.
" (4) That, iv the opinion of your petitioners, trapping and the export of rabbits have conduced greatly to the reduction of the pest. "(5j That, in the opinion of your petitioners, the said Act should be further amended in the direction of -providing for Regulations under the said Act, so that the Government shall be invested with such powers as shall enable them, in their discretion, to declare certain localities rubblt trapping areas, where poisoning shall be prohibited during a certain period of the year.
11 (6) That- your petitioners humbly pray that your honorable House will take the whole circumstances into your careful consideration, and make such alterations in the law as will meet the necessities of the case.
" And your petitioners, as in duty bound, will ever pray, etc."
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https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TT19000502.2.20
Bibliographic details
Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4749, 2 May 1900, Page 3
Word Count
348THE RABBIT QUESTION. Tuapeka Times, Volume XXXII, Issue 4749, 2 May 1900, Page 3
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