DESTRUCTIVE OPOSSUMS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1804, 17 July 1913, Page 8

DESTRUCTIVE OPOSSUMS.

GOVERNMENT PROTECTION . REFUSED. The opossum, that furry little marsupial which has a bad reputation for destroying orchard trees, has a whole-heart-ed champion in Dr. Newman, M.P. for Wellington East., Last week ho suggested to the Government that they should stop the indiscriminate slaughter of opossums, so_ that the opossums might not be exterminated. Tile Minister's reply was uncompromising: "The extermination of opossums in all districts where fruit is grown is desirable, and will not be', prevented. The Government has under consideration the question how. far the animals can be protected within certain defined forest areas remote from orchards." This reply by 110 means satisfied Dr. Newman, who urged that opossums were protected in Tasmania, a fruit Muntry, and that .they wero in that Ststc an ever-in-crcasing source of profit. " Br. Newman even suggested that the opossum might yet prove almost as profitable as the fat lamb. , Mr. A. S. Malcolm and Mr. Atmore, both of whom knew something of the depredations of opossums in orchards, agreed, however, that the Government had decided wisely. Mr. Atmore enlightened the House considerably as to the ravages of the opossum in the orchards and gardens in his district. He stated that ono of the animals, when killed, was found to contain nearly two pounds weight of strawberries; another had abstracted no fewer than 165 peaches from one tree. The Hon. Mr. Fisher: Do they come right into civilisation? Mr. Atmore: Yes, , within two miles of the city of Nelson. Ho also narrated an instance in which oposums had devastated eight or nine acres of nuts.