A POPULAR DISH

Wanganui Herald, Volume XXXVII, Issue 10972, 11 June 1903, Page 5

A POPULAR DISH

Twelve Million Rabbits Imported Annually. (London Mail.) „ - . The importation of rabbits into .England •has recently increased to an enonnou9 extent, and it is estimated that fully, twelve iniiiioaß are now sent annually from-Aus-tralia and .'New Zealand. - - .- \ . If everybody within • the .London ,area consumed two rabbits yearly there wou'id ibe none left for the, provincial 'centres. '.Although fully 90 per cent, of the iniportations come., to London' it is estimated 'thit only; 2s, :per.. cent, are .gold locally^, the ?rema^ttder Being sent to the provinces^- ,-■■■/■ i\ According to one authority the ' Midlands •t absorb < more Colonial rabbits ' than X *n"y ibther; part of' the United JSangdom/ajad Birmingham tkas the fejgufation, ttf beinjfc, tjtte '.'greatest' rabbit-consuming city" iu^%vi%land»>'/Londoners insist upon -having ¥l}e .aj£all"and: tender, varieties, and s these, are sorted Jout and placed .upon the market, while the industrial classes -in the prqvinties who prefer value in size are well satisfied with the surplus. ; • ,</.«■' vv» "The recent t drought,", writes a Sydney correspondent, "has served to ,show thift, after all, the rabbit is not. an unqualified curse to Australia, and it is probable that; in the future little more ? will be heard of scientific methods of extinction. •: • * \ •"Last year the.exports of meat and-but-ter to the United Klno'dom suffered' a heavy feductidn; but, on the .other hand, the. export of rabbits increased largely, Jne fewer than five millions being sent to the London market. Most of these we^e shipped i toiit Victoria, where some of the- people on tjte land are endeavouring to cultivate; the fab*bit inßtewLof, as was the case a few years ago, trvin* to, exterminate, it:" -.- ;•: , Home-reared rabbits, are rapidly decreaainff, andit is^ therefore, reassuring to learn that the colonies can once more come -to the Mother Country's rescue and save th> situation ! Rabbit exportation Has; in fact, become, a serious industry. ' ■ ' '-„,'•'• When home rabbits are out of season tHa demand for "cojdnials" is unprecedented, and thousands are arriving weekly iv, London and Liverpool: ' " ' '/.->•■ j-