THE RABBIT PEST.

Waikato Times, Volume 100, Issue 16712, 30 January 1926, Page 9

THE RABBIT PEST.

PROBLEM OP EXTERMINATION. EFFECTIVE REMEDY CLAIMED. "THERE IN THE MORNING." If there .is one problem that has exorcised the farmers of New Zealand more than another and caused them losses which must ran into many thousands of pounds in the aggregate, it is the extermination of rabbits. From all parts of the country comes the perennial cry that bunny has become master of the situation and, like blackberry and ragwort, is a veritable pest. Although there has been no lack of preventatives in the past, these have only met with a small degree of success, and the position to-day, speaking generally, is that rabbits are largely on the increase in New Zealand. Tbat there is a strong possibility of a palliative for this dire distress is indicated by Hie claims of Mr J. W. Thompson, of Harapepe, that an effective treatment has been discovered and has, in fact, been in operation by him in that part of the Waikato for some time. Mr Thompson, who is inspector to the Harapepe Rabbit Board, has been associated with rabbits for the past 40 years, both here and in Australia. In the latter country he was in close association with Von Hurst, the well-known German Professor of Botany, who was, prior to the war, concerned with the discovery of an effective destroyer of prickly pear and rabbits.

Mr Thompson is emphatic that total extermination of the rabbit is guaranteed by the treatment he has employed for some time. Negotiations have been going on between the Government and himself, but so far without effective action. Mr Thompson says that once the Government gives him the guarantee in writing that they will purchase his treatment, upon him proving its efficacy, he will divulge the secret concerning the preparation which he uses. So 'far as negotiations have gone the authorities do nof seem prepared to act along these lines. However, if the extermination process is as conclusive as Mr Thompson claims it to be all obstacles .should be removed in the solution of a problem that has confronted the farmers of this country for so long and has proved so costly to them.

Deadly in its Effect.

Even the penetrating powers of the Waikato Times reporter, who interviewed Mr Thompson on this important subject, did not, as would be expected, extract "the secret." However, the scribe was able to elucidate the salient points of application. The substance which does its work so completely is spread for a short distance inside the warren. A piece of bag or a handful of fern with a different liquid on it, which latter is repugnant to the taste, is placed at the mouth of the warren. This is covered over' with a small quantity of earth, and the grass soon grows. No gas is created by the liquid in the warren, hence the evaporation that exists with some of the.other "cures" in use does not occur under this method. There is no exit from the warren and no ingress takes place. The effective work goes on inside until the numerous occupants of the warren are exterminated with the liquid they readily absorb. The absence of gas means that any country can be treated, as no airtight provisions become essential under the method. As Mr Thompson put it, "when the rabbit arrives he licks the dope and is there in the morning. This method spells the end of the rabbits so far as the burrow is concerned." The method outlined has been very successful at Harapepe. Mr Thompson has been using it for the past two years. Its cost is down to practically a nominal figure, as 200 burrows can be ■treated for 2s (id. A block of GOOO acres, which Mr Thompson is operating over for the Harapepe Board, lias been- pretty well cleared of rabbits within 12 months, and other testimony from farmers who have used the treatment for the past eight months was adduced to the reporter in support of what is claimed as an effective means of eradicating a pest of long standing. The problem is one in which the agricultural community as a whole is interested, and "the secret" in Mr Thompson's keeping—at a price of course —should be explored to its utmost limits. **