THE RABBIT NUISANCE

Waipa Post, Volume XII, Issue 817, 7 February 1919, Page 3

THE RABBIT NUISANCE

FORMATION OF HOARDS.

MR YOUNG'S REPRESENTATIONS

In the House last December, when the Rabbit Nuisance Amendment Act was being considered, Mr Young, M.P. (Waikato) is recorded in Hansard to have said: — DEPARTMENTAL AUTHORITY. This Bill is one which will provide some useful machinery for the better dealing with the rabbit pest by the settlers. The first two clauses are amendments in the law providing for what the Department desires in the direction of strengthening its hands to more effectively cope with rabbits under Part 1 of the main Act of 1908. Let me point out that the amendment j made to-night in passing clause 2 is very drastic. However, the Minister and the Department believe that they ought to have the power, and if the j clause as passed is administered un- ! der wise and exceptionally gifted of- ; ficers possessed of tact and judgment it may be a success; but it seems to me if it is administered according to ! the strict letter of the law it may, by ' reason of the arbitrary power which it vests in an Inspector, break down and prove a failure. I hope, 'however, thai in its operation clause 2 will be the success which the Minister anticipates, and will, under the Government Inspectors, enable rabbits to be dealt with more effectively, without inflicting undue hardship upon the settlers who may come within its scope. I took the risk and voted for it in order to save the Bill, and thus secure the other good clauses which it contains. SMALLER BOARDS. With regard to clauses 4,5, and (J. 1 thank the Minister for having brought down this important legislation. It is a contribution in an endeavour to provide machinery whereby ten or more settlers, small settlers in particular—over an area of 2,000 acres—may rale themselves for two purposes—(l) to suppress and destroy rabbits, and (2) to raise money by special loan to purchase wire netting to deal with rabbits, either by netting them out of pasture lands or into gullies and other fern-covered places where rabbits find cover for breeding. In the Bill as introduced clause 4 provided for an area of 20,000 acres, and for a Rabbit Board to be brought into operation on the request of twenty ratepayers. 1 represented to the Minister and the House the importance of reducing the 20,000 acres to 2,000 acres, and of reducing the number of ratepayers who could make applica- J tion for the constitution of a rabbit [ district from twenty to ten. and I thank him for accepting the amend- j nients I asked for. THE RATING SYSTEM.

An important point is dealt with in clause 5, which provides for the extent of rating Which may be levied by the Board. Under the Act of 1908, which this Bill amends, a Rabbit Board could levy a rate up to :j-16ths of Id in the pound. This clause provides for a rating up to Id in the' pound; but there is a proviso which makes it clear that in the aggregate the amount payable by any one owner shall not exceed 1/ per acre of his holding. I regret that the Minister did not see fit to accept aay suggestion that the local Rabbit Board should be permitted to rate up to, say. 3d in the pound, for this reason: Take a 200acrc farm, which is the average-sized farm thai, one has in view in this particular connection in regard to the class oi country which will be affected, and which will no doubt take advantage of it. It' the land is valued at £l2 per acre, then by the levy of Id in the pound, the maximum rate the Board is able to strike, the amount payable is 1/ per acre; and in that case the whole 200-acre farm would yield £lO. If the land was valued at, say, £24 per acre, they would still be able to provide up to equal to 1/ per acre, and in that case a rate of id in the pound would be leviable. But any one who has a knowledge of rabbits and the class of country where rabbits abound will know that it is on the lowerpriced land that rabbits are mostly to be found. In fact, the presence of rabbits depreciates the value of land. In your high-priced, well-cultivated, well settled farms, such as obtain in oldestablished dairying districts, rabbits are of little or no inconvenience, because there is no cover and no particular facility for them to multiply; but in new country, where the settlers are struggling along, especially in the cla.ss of country that is of light-soil formation, and there are patches here and there of broken gullies, and where the fern grows freely and is most difficult to keep under control, there is great opportunity and facility for rabbits to increase. Therefore the settler in this class of country has a great menace and a great trouble before him in the matter of dealing with rabbits. His land is usually below £l2 an acre, and so, if his land is valued at £6 per acre, and he is only permitted to rate it up to the extent of not more than Id in the pound, the maximum amount he could raise would be (id per acre for dealing with the rabbits on his land. The clause in the Bill fixes the maximum rate at Id in the pound on the rateable value, and I will refer to the section in the principal Act which it amends. It will be clearlyseen, 1 think, that a mistake has been made in not inserting 3d in place of Id. The limitation at the end of clause aof 1/ per acre as the maximum amount of rate whic'h may be levied is a safeguard. WIDER POWER URGED. Section 82 of the main Act, which is the one amended by clause 5, I will read as now amended and passed by the committee of the whole Mouse. It is as follows: — "82. (l)The Board, after giving not less than ten days' public notice of its intention, may levy in each year for the purposes of this part of the Act. a rate not exceeding one penny in the pound on the rateable value of all the rateable property in the district, and may appoint a time and place for the payment of rates so levied, and all rates not so paid may without further notice be recovered by the Board in any Court of competent jurisdiction, but the total anionnf payable by any one owner shall not exceed 1/ per acre of his holding. Therefore. I am afraid that in the lower-priced land, where you have land at £4 an acre, a rate of only Id would give 4d an acre. That would not be sufficient, whereas if it were made more flexible, so as to enable a Rabbit Board to rate up to lid in the pound, it would permit those Who are pre 'to spend money in order to clear tin: rabbits from their property to rate up to an amount equal to 1/ an acre However that is a little omission . h later, if it is found desirlowe, jiiiied land, where you have land able to amend in this proposed Act, can be got over.

STATE SUBSIDIES. Under this amending Bill the benefits of the subsidy of 3-16 din the pound under section 83 of the principal Act will be paid by the Government to the Board on rates levied up to 3-16 d in the pound for the destruction of rabbits, provided that the total amount paid during each year does not exceed £5,000. 1 should just like to say that this Bill provides now that a Rabbit Board anay borrow money by way of special loan for the purchase of wire netting for keeping rabbits out of the district, as well as gives power to rate up to Id for the purpose of the destruction of rabbits. A prominent settler in my district, who is well known in the agricultural and pastoral and commercial community of the Dominion, and who has largely interested himself in the rabbit question, writes to me as follows:"I fully believe that if the rabbits j were cleared out of New Zealand the I extra income from stock carried would pay interest on a £10,000,000 loan. The Government is anxious to bring in as much money as possible from outside, and 1 do not know any means which would effect this purpose so easily as clearing the country of this pest." THE MENAGE OF RABBITS. The gentleman who wrote that letter is one far and widely respected as a ! leading farming and commercial au--1 thority in the Auckland Province—Mr ' Joseph Barugh. 1 would point out this proposition: Take an area of 20, 000 acres. it is estimated that in many parts of the infested country there are at least ten rabbits to the acre. For the purpose of making a safe calculation 1 will say five to the acre Competent authorities estimate that ten rabbits will destroy and oat as much pasture as one sheep. The profit on a sheep in the Auckland province last year varied anything from 15/ to £1 5/; but take the lowest estimate and say it was 15/. That means that over an area of 20.0U0 acres on a basis of profit of 15/ per sheep there is a definite loss of £7,500 per year through presence of rabbits; whereas if there were sheep on the property instead of rabbits the land would have j brought in that extra profit. If is ten- j portant, therefore, to have legislation | to enable people to effectively deal with rabbits. Glauses 4,5, and 6 were asked for by the- Conference of Agri cultural and Pastoral Associations which assembled in Wellington this year, and they have been asked for by gatherings of Farmers' Unions in the j Waikato. and since agreed to by the Stock Department, fam very glad we have had these amendments brought, down in the Bill this evening.