RABBITERS’ RETURNS

Waikato Independent, Volume XLIV, Issue 1188, 3 October 1945, Page 3

RABBITERS’ RETURNS

WAGES ALLOWANCE SALES Good money can be earned by an experienced and diligent rabbiter if he has the opportunity to apply his ability in an area where rabbits arc fairly plentiful, according to evidence given to the Auckland Manpower (Industrial) Committee at a meeting in Hamilton. An expert rabbiter said he netted about Is 8d per pair of carcases and about 7d per skin. He added that in one consignment of 281 b of skins sent to market 21b sold for llOd, but the rest was quitted at figures much lower. His tally sheets shorved an average weekly catch of 272 over two months. Of these, only about 20 per cent, were saleable skins, and these therefore yielded about 38s 6d. The carcases of all adult rabbits were sold, and these represented about one-fourth of the total catch. Therefore they would yield £4 10s. Aidded to this Avere the rabbiter’s wages with a rabbit board, £5 ss, plus car and other allowances ranging from £1 10s to £2 10s a week. Some other little known facts about rabbiting as an occupation Avere given. Witness said two-thirds of the average catch were unsaleable because of lack of size. This year the winter was mild, with fewer frosts than usual, and this affected the value of skins. Damage was frequently done to skins by the ravages of semi-wild cats that infest SAvamp areas, and they often chewed the carcases. There Avas a demand for mature carcases, and the Avitness knew of no discrimination against does. There AA r as no breeding season, and rabbits Avere born all the year round. Trappers almost always had a small pack of dogs to help. Witness declared that a spaniel-Pomeranian cross was the •best for rabbiting and was far more efficient than terriers, if the rabbiter had a shotgun to kill stragglers flushed out of scrub by the dogs. Usually the landowner allowed the rabbiter to retain both skins and carcases. In one recently-formed rabbit district only two farmers had stipulated for retention of carcases and skins.

The winter season for trapping was the most lucrative, for that was the period when rabbits were easiest 'to catch and prices were invariably better for SKins. During the summer months catches Avere smaller, and this was one reason for a board paying a wage throughout the year.