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are working their way down the Wairau Valley, between Rainbow and Tophouse, and I would suggest that a short line of netting fence should be erected at the Waterfall Creek, which would be a great check on any rabbits going clown the valley, and then a man might be put on for a month or six weeks to destroy any that might be on the Tophouse side of the fence. If something of this sort is not done, I am afraid these rabbits will work through by Tophouse into the Nelson District. The length of netting required at the place mentioned would be about 100 yards. St. James's and Stanley Vale Runs : I found on making a thorough inspection of these properties that there were far more rabbits than I had expected, for, although inside the Hurunui Board's fence, I found patches of rabbits as thick as they were outside. Both properties were well poisoned, and Mr. McArthur had seven men constantly on St. James's, and Iliad two on Stanley Vale for five months, and they all did excellent work. The runs will be thoroughly poisoned again this winter, and I hope next year to be able to give a satisfactory report. Woodbank and Hopefield Runs : On these properties the rabbits were in much the same state as St. James's and Stanley Vale. The country was poisoned last winter, but was not followed up by careful and continued work. On all the other properties in the district there are odd rabbits, but, with one or two exceptions, the owners seem fully alive to their danger and anxious to keep the rabbits back, and I hope, with close supervision, to ensure good work being done by all. The netting-fenc3 erected up the Waiau River to Steyning Creek was only up in just time, as five rabbits have been hunted across from Hopefield side, and caught against the fence. The fence up the Hope and Boyle Rivers is also completed, and has been well and substantially erected. Mr. Rutherford has put men on to attend to these fences and keep them in repair. Kaikoura. —The rabbits in this district are still well in hand. The worst part is on the Clarence side of the Warden and Tytler Runs, where the rabbits are in some places numerous. This country is exceptionally favourable for the increase of rabbits, but the poisoning will have to be better followed up than has been the case heretofore. Other owners, almost without exception, work well, and appear to recognise the fact that it is to their own advantage to keep the rabbits down, and consequently, as a whole, the district is in a satisfactory state. The natural enemy appear to be very numerous in my district, especially weasels, and are, I consider, to a great extent responsible for the satisfactory condition of the district. Waiau. W. A. Scaife.

South Canterbury Division. The lambing has been well up to the average, and the clip of wool has been, on the whole, good. In some of the higher districts the clip was considerably lighter than that of last season. During the twelve months 66,076 sheep and 18,653 lambs have been frozen and exported from Timaru, making a total of 84,729 carcases, a considerably smaller number than during the previous season. Prices of store sheep have ruled high, but of late there has been a considerable fall. A great many farmers seem to be turning their attention more to sheep, and abandoning to a great extent the production of cereals, induced thereto by the unusually low price obtainable for grain. No live stock has been imported or exported from Timaru during the year. No cases of death amongst horses from the bot-fly have come under my personal observation, and I incline to the belief that many of the deaths attributed to the bot have really been due to other causes. The district has been very free from lungworm and other diseases, and I have not seen any cases of parasitical affections. The rains which fell after the harvest have had the effect of freshening the pastures, and feed is now plentiful. Babbits. —As I have only lately taken over the Timaru district, I am not in a position to speak from my own personal knowledge as to whether there has been an increase or otherwise in the number of rabbits within the district. Eabbits are to be found in all the river-beds, more especially in those where the dense growth of gorse and broom afford them a shelter and refuge from which it is a matter of very great difficulty to dislodge them. In only a few of these river-beds, so far as I have yet seen, do they exist in any numbers, and these are now receiving attention. There can be little doubt that a grave danger is to be apprehended of rabbits spreading from south of the Waihao, and already a good many are to be found on the southern and western slopes of the Hunter Hills. As yet they do not seem to have crossed the top of the range, but they are to be found very close to the crest. Active steps to destroy the pest are now being taken by the occupiers in that locality, but a careful watch will require to be kept that these measures are unremittingly continued. I feel convinced that there we have the real wild rabbit, or at least a rabbit with the infusion of the blood of the wild one, to contend with. To the eastward of the Hunter Hills there appears to be as yet only a comparatively small sprinkling of the pest, and these ought to be easily kept under with the exercise of due care. The usual methods of destruction are shooting, dogging, and digging out the burrows. In cases where rabbits are more numerous, such as the country outside the " rabbit fence," poisoning in winter is universal, and is always advocated by me in any place where rabbits exist in numbers. Any other means has beyond all doubt a tendency to scatter the rabbits over a still larger area and thus render their destruction more difficult and the consequent increase more rapid, though less observable for a time. There can be no doubt that stoats and weasels are rapidly increasing at the head of the Ohau Lake, and on the country between Lake Ohau and the Tasman Eiver. Instances of their being seen were constantly being reported to me, showing they must be in considerable numbers, as owing to their habits they are difficult to see. I myself have only observed one, a stoat, on Glentanner run, western side of Tasman Eiver. Timaru. H. S. Thomson.