The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1886. UTILISING THE RABBITS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume V, Issue 1370, 14 October 1886, Page 2

The Ashburton Guardian. Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1886. UTILISING THE RABBITS.

The rabbits have undoubtedly cost the colony some millions of money, and have been the constant suhj ct of legislation for years pajt. while Rabbit Inspectors. Rashit Boards and all sorts of officials and machinery have baen called into existence to cope with the mischevinus little rodents. And what witli pot’s n, ferrets, guns, dogs, and even cats arrayo 1 against them, the invading hotti of bunnies have hern driven out altogether from some parts of the country and in "then have been prevented from spreading to any dangerous extent, But while the t’aa thus been checked it has been impossible to eradicate it altogether, and owing to the natural features of the country we opine that the long oared depredators will, like the poor, bo always with ns. For while In the lowlands, which are the busy scene of agricultural settlement, the multiplying of homesteads and the increase of population will, from year to year, render it an increasingly easy task to keep them within any bounds j desired, in the high mountain ranges which form so large a part of the total acreage of the country, It will he altogether an impossible task to keep them from usu ping possession of large areas of land. Toia is true of a'i the highlands of the groat Alpine chain of this island, and especially so of the wild country in the interior of Otago, writing of which, in omnocHon with this subject, the New Zealand Times says that ‘‘of all the. rabbit-infoftsd districts of New Zealand none is more hopeless to deal with than the emut-y to the westward of the Wakatipu Lake At one time much of it was capital sheep country, carrying a largo stock, and the Mount Nicholas and Fern Hill runs were particularly thriving. The inroad of rabbits, however, put an end to their prosperity. The holders were ruined, and the runs fell Int > the hands of a financial company, which after working them for some years, abandoned them. In tho year 1871 the Mount Nicho'as run, which was carrying 20.CC0 sheep at the time, changed hands ; and the purchasers, thinking that tho country would bear a heavier stock, brought the number up to nearly 30 000. Five years afterwards the whole shearing muster was only about 0000 sheep, and in the mean time not a hoof had been sold. The loss was caused directly or indirectly by starvation, the rabbits having taken possession in such vast numbers as to leavo tho ground as bare as a macadamised road.

. The two runs of which we have spoken are, we believe, still occupied, but the greater part of the district has been abandoned, and is now a cause of expense inslead of a source of revenue to the Crovn,” C ar contemporary goes on to remark that under such circumstances no one was able to Bay until the other day

what was best t > l-o done but that a scheme is now afoot which, “ if successful, wiil make the da'nct onco more productive, and enable it to carry a considerable population. It is proposed to do this not by exierminstirnj; the rabbits, bat by making use of them. A gentleman who has hud much experience in raobit-tinn ing and fret zing iu Victoria is no w ranking enquiries as to whether works can bo profitably carried on at the Wakatipu. The following conditions are necessary for i-uoceas:—There mast be no poisoning in the district ; during the six months of the vear in which the works would bo in operation there must be regular daily suppl'cs of rub'd's, amounting in the gross to two millions ; the prke must not exceid 4id per pair. At this rate the number used would be nearly 13,000 a day. The country from which it is proposed to draw supplies extends along the shore i f the lake from Kingston to the Greenstone River, and is in area about half a million of acres It is calculated that each acre can produce four rabbits a year. An ordinary trapper with 100 traps can easily get 300 rabbits a week, and at this ra*e employment would be found during half the year for 256 men in catching alone, it the price were only 2d a rabbit, each man would thus earn £2 10s a week ; the total weekly pay of all these trappers would be £640 ; and for the six months between £16,000 and £l7 000. Though the country is mountainous there are fertile gullies and spots where the men could have Comfortable homes, with gardens and other cultivations and in the summer months most of them c uld find work in the woolsheds and harvest fields. In addition 60 or 70 men would bo employed about the works, and it would bo necessary to have a steamer on the lake to collect the rabbits daily. The necessity of regular supplies is apparent, and the water carriage afforded by the lake gives a great advantage, added to which there is the railway from Kingston to the coast.” That there are objections to the scheme is admitted, and some of these are pointed out, but it is stated that the owners of Fern Bill and Mount Nicholas runs are quite will, ingti give them up for the purpose in view. As the rnnholdera on the lower ground do not oppose, provided a rabbitproof fence be erected between the proposed immense warrens and their holdings (which is a part of the scheme), it would seem not improbable that the suggert-on may bo carried out, and that canned rabbit may soon figure as a large and profitable item atno’tg the exports of the colony. If, as the Times suggests, the new industry * fiord a employment to three or four hundred families as the direct result of the substitution of nbbits for sheep on the runs in question, it will we think, be admitted that in this particular instance bunny will have proved a boon instead of a bane.