Bre'r Rabbit

New Zealand Tablet, Volume XXXV, Issue 21, 23 May 1907, Page 22

Brer Rabbit

There is a streak of good in almost everything. Between his murders, even Charles Peace had ' good moments,' which he devoted to hymn- writing. And, in view of our meat-export trade, the ' Official Year-Book ' pleads that the rabbit, so 'detested by the landed interests, ' can hardly now be lookc'd upon as worthless.' The good rabbit, like the good Injun, is the dead one. But he tlatees a deal of killing— chicken-cholera, trapyards, choke-damp machines, and poisoned water, poisoned pie-melon, poisoned apple-jam, poisoned wheat, and chaff and pollard having alike failed to exterminate him off Australasian earth, or even to reduce his depredations to the limits of possible toleration. ,The latest ' remedy ' for Brer Rabbit is the 'potent microbe introduced into Australia by Dr. Danysz. A recent report upon its experimental operations shows a somewhat qualified success for the present and a fund of

rather subdued hope for the future. Like Joe Bagstock, Brc'r Rabbit is ' tough, 'devilish tough.' Dt. Ashburton Thompson, in a recent address to the members of the Royal Society in Sydney, spoke in part as follows on Dr. Danysz's report :— ' Even if successful, one must not expect too much from the Danysz experiments. The microbe would not spread and spread until all the rabbits were killed oil. It would in given regdons lose its virulence, and rabbits immune to its influence would remain ; and so, in any case, supply stations would be needed all over the country, where the cultures would be kept up in virulence, and whence ever new supplies would necessarily be sent out. The experiments with the Danysz rat microbe had a direct and very important 'bearing upon the aspect of the rabbit experiments. Altogether the process wa,i not quite simple, and yet it was well worth the experiment, for the suggestion once having been made, the public would not rest until the method had had a fair trial. Clearly incessant war must be made against the 'enemy, or they must alanden the country. His advice to the people was to relax no effort. Let the wire-netting and other means be proceeded witlh as if no microbe experiments were going on, for the disease methods would never supplant the ordinary methods. That may be but another weapon against, tha enemy, but the old weapons- will still be needed. How uncertain the effects t>l microbes were was well exemplified by the results obtained with the micro'. e found by Dr. Danysz to te effective in destroying rats. In order to destroy rats, and thus combat the plague, the Board of Health had on three occasions imported the virus and tried it without success ; but the arrival of Dr. Danys/, himself seemed a good opportunity to test Ihe \irus definitely. From Ihe report just issued by 1h >v Board, however, it was cloar that here the virus was not successful—" It evidently did not set up an epizootic of any magnitude." The results seemed to " indicate a rapid loss of virulence, which must b? obviated if this v,irus is to be of practical utility for rat destruction " ; ai cl so P-OPle must go on c m the old way, removing their food supplies and catching or poisoning, the rats.' All this is none too hopeful. It loo' s as if Brer Rabbit is not altogether unlikely to hold his own even against the lying of terrors, Brer Microbe. In these pleasant climates the rodent is favored both by his increased vitality jdid (if we may use the term) by his voluminous fecundity.