The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 830, 27 July 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. WEDNESDAY, JULY 27, 1881.

It is very probable that ferrets, stoats, and weasels will shortly be introduced into this district in considerable numbers and turned loose on stations. Public opinion in the Wairarapa is very much divided as to the expediency of admitting these natural enemies of the rabbit.* Station proprietors favor their introduction, but small fanners, as a class, hold very different views. The propositi, too, which is made to sweep away our present rabbit trusts is one which is likely to bo opposed. It lias been' held by some that population alone will settle the rabbit difficulty, and that the proprietors of sheep stations should be driven to subdivide their holdings and settle tliem with small farmers. If .the supply of small farmers in the colony were adequate or could be made sufficient to occupy the stations now used as sheep vims, the alternative suggested might be deemed worthy of consideration; but it must bo evident to most persons that we luive not enough unemployed small fanners in the colony, and cannot for years to come obtain a sufficient number of them to settle the millions of acres now occupied in the colony by sheep runs. In this district the experiment of the Hon John Martin in cutting up 40,000 acres into small farms is still fresh in our minds. It was admittedly a failure, the demand for farms being altogether unequal to the supply which he placed in the market. It would be simply absurd to suppose that if ten- or twenty times the area ol land which was then subdivided were, from a pressure of circumstances, to be now offered in small farm allotments that they would be taken up. If station proprietors were forced, by the increase of the rabbit pest, to subdivide their lands, the consequence to them would be simply ruin. The question really which has now to be decided is the destruction of' rabbits or the ruin of station proprietors, We have not in the Wairarapa, it is true, quite reached Unit sta«e when these two alternatives alone present themselves, but we are not far from it; and in other parts of the colony this stage has absolutely been reached, and we in this district are perhaps only one or two years behind it. Now, it is not expedient that any class in any community—more especially iu a colonial community, where all classes are mutually dependent one upon another—should be ruined, and we do not sympathise with those who would deny to any class any reasonable chance it may claim for protecting its vital interests, Station proprietors now claim that it is necessary for their interests to introduce and protect the natural enemies of rabbits. If they can show that the importation of those animals will not materially injure their neighbors, it would be unwise, as well as ungenerous, to deny them this chance of clearing their runs. A committee of both Houses of Parliament has recently taken evidence which the members of it considered conclusive, and which went to show, first, that the natural enemies of rabbits are the best means of exterminating them; secondly, that they do not injure sheep or lambs. There are many people who entertain a very different opinion to this, and it will be their duty if they desire to oppose the introduction of these natural enemies, to bring rebutting evideuce to show that the conclusions which have been formed are mistaken. No doubt the evidence on which the Committee has founded its •report will be published, and everyone who takes an interest in thu question will be able to form an opinion of the value of it. Till we see the evidence ouj selves, we shall scarcely feel satisfied that ferrets, stoats, and weasels are desirable denizens for our broad acres. All that we' are prepared to admit so far is that a prima facie case in their favor has been made out by persons who have made an official investigation into their ways and habits. We must also admit that unless this prim facie case cau be upset, either by showing the facts or arguments on which it is based to be untrustworthy or by brinciag rebutting evidence, a verdict will have to be entered in favor of Messrs Ferret, Stoat, and Weasel, the plaintiffs. We are not, also, prepared to oppose the Government taking up the administration of the Rabbit Act. If rabbits have to be killed, the authority, whether central or local, which destroys ; them the more quickly and economically is undoubtedly the best. Babbit Trusts have had a turn with but partial success ; if the Government like to take an innings let them do so, and we shall soon see if they do the work better than it has been done hitherto, If they don't, they will have to relegate their powers .very quickly. From every point of view rabbits are a nuisance. In the Wairarapa there

are probably DUUi'uilults employod ejf-' clusively in killing them who would otherwise be bush fencing, or improving properties; The Wairarapa probably loses by rabbits £100,000.0f money per annum, and we cannot afford this.. - Let thehv by a)l/n)eans be got rid ot if they can by any process be swept away. ,It tlioy caimotj we must accept the; inevitable, But the fact tlmi, they cannot be; exterminated lias ,yet to be .demonstrated,, and', -while there is fair reason to suppose that, they can, and sufferers are willing to find uioiiey for the attempt, let ns encourage them to persevere, and throw noamnecessray obstacle in their way.