Extensive Poisoning And Fumigating Work Done By Rabbit Board Staff

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 12, Issue 8, 19 December 1947, Page 5

Extensive Poisoning And Fumigating Work Done By Rabbit Board Staff

Reporting to this month’s meeting of the Pongakawa Rabbit Board last week, the inspector,. Mr C. H. Davis, wrote: — “We have poisoned 15,780 acres and fumigated 11,200 acres, using 1,3 001 bs. of phosphorised pollard and lOOlbs. of cyanogas. Results with poison have been good with the exception of a block on Thompson’s and Drabbled poisoned last week and spoilt, with the heavy week-end rain. This country I am having re-poisoned at present. We have poisoned a large area of -the Ruawuhia and Upper Tarawera country with good results and this country, which was formerly badly infested, is only now carrying rabbits in patches along the river banks and a few on Fenton’s and Grieve’s places. As we have been over the whole of the Galatea area and this country is in fairly good order, I have shifted Mr Raureti to Rerewhakaitu. I have also sent Mr Edwards to give a hand out with the work in this area. They will fumigate the whole of the grass lands here, after which they will poison the Rotomahana block of Native land and if time permits before the holiday break-up they will poison Crown and State Forests lands from the Rerewhakaitu road towards Munipara.

“During the coming period Mr Gillham will work the Paengaroa area and along the Old Coach Road to Downies. Mr Vercoe will work the Lakes area and along the Tau-ranga-Rotorua Highway. Mr Foreman will work the Maniatutu Road. Mr Carson will continue with the

Bush Road country. Mr Hammond will work the coast and Awakar ponga country. Messrs O’Hara and Easton will work the Heparu and Manawahe. Mr Dungan, whom I hafe shifted to Emery’s will work the State Forest country. Miss- Atkins’, Emery’s and Theobald’s from this camp. Mr Lyons will continue with the work at the Te Teko end of your Board’s area. As there are no camps available on the State Forest lands on the Pikowai block, I had intended to take Messrs Hammond, O'Hara, Baston, Dungan and myself in the truck each day to poison this country, as soon as the weather is favourable. This procedure will not save benzine, but it is the only way to work this country as far as I can see.

“The two new pumps have now come to hand and as thei'e is a likelihood of no more of these being available, we will require to have most of our pumps- overhauled, as the seatings of the valves get.pitted and cause leaks after a time. I have been looking round for something that would get over this difficulty. There is a valve that we could get fitted to these pumps as they require new ones that would be great improvement on the original ones and would be well worth the expenditure. They would' cost from 16/- to 17/6 each fitted to pumps.”