CORRESPONDENCE.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3747, 19 July 1883, Page 3

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE RABBIT PEST,

[To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph.] Sib,—l Avould feel obliged if you would allow mo, through the medium of your journal, to point out to the laud owners, but more especially to those interested in pastoral pursuits iv Hawke's Bay, that unless a good deal more i* done than it is supposed Avill be done by the Government avc shall to a certainty have the rabbits on to us before long. 1 understand the Government is agreeable to the extension of our rabbit district to tho Akiteo river, and 1 to give us an extra inspector. I may be credulous, but I take it for granted that, as

soon as our Chief Inspector receives instructions from the Government to that effect, notice will be immediately given to the occupier of the Akiteo run to exterminate the rabbits on that estate, and the newlyappointed inspector, I presume, _ Avill not only report to ids chief Avhat is being done, but also set to Avork himself killing off all rabbits on tho adjoining Government waste lands. Probably'the rabbits Avill be considerably reduced in numbers, but it is ridiculous to suppose they will be exterminated; but the effect of their being constantly harassed Avill bo to drive them on to the dry open bush ridges which extend right on to Messrs AVhite's, Ormond's, Mackersey's, and Hamilton's runs in a very short time" It is clear, then, that if avo are sincere in our wish to keep the ILuvko's Bay district clear of these pests other measures must be at once taken besides hunting thorn on the boundary. Mr Ormond proposed that the Government, Avith the consent of the majority of the ratepavcrs, do levy an acreage rate on the "hind in Hawke's Bay iv order to extend the fence some fifteen miles, should the Government not luwc sufficient funds at its disposal for that purpose. AYe have very litcle reason for supposing that the majority of the ratepayers Avould agree to such a tax ; but a good many reasons could be assigned for not agreeing to it. There is already an under-current not favorable to the pastoral community owing to tho large estates held for grazing purposes. A\ T hy then run the risk of making ourselves more objectionable by endeavoring to tax those Avho Avould rather, if tho truth be knoAvn, prefer seeing the breakingup of large estates, whether it be by taxation or rabbits':' The rabbit question "is a matter that should be taken up in the first place by tho sheepfarmers, as they would be the first to suffer. The sheepfarmers of Hawke's Bay have been for the last ten or twelve years a Avell favored class—it ill becomes them then to ask the Government for protection, being so well able to protect themselves. Owinjjf to Mr Ormond's amendment to the resolutions passed at Porangahau I am inclined to think that the agreement signed by all present at the meeting is virtually annulled. So I Avould strongly urge the sheepfarmers to again meet to decide Avhether they shall erect this fifteen miles of fencing themselves, the cost to bo defrayed out of a rate levied ou all the shcc}> in Hawke's Bay. The cost would he some £3,500. Noav, as there aro 2,511,539 sheep, the rate Avould not after all be so heavy—about one-third of a penny per sheep. Surely tho sheepfarmers could and ought willingly to pay that, comparatively small sum to ensure their almost certain immunity from a pest that, if once introduced, Avould bo not only their own ruin but that of succeeding generations. I imagine there Avould be no difficulty in getting the Government to pass an Act this session to enable the Rabbit Inspector to levy and collect tho rate, so that the fence might be begun as soon as possible.—l am, Sec, RIIEEPTARMER. Porangahau, July 18, 1.853.