The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1883.

Daily Telegraph (Napier), Issue 3797, 15 September 1883, Page 2

The Daily Telegraph. SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 15, 1883.

It may well be said of the Government of this colony that its ways "passoth understanding.'"' Om-readers have all heard of the km, the sheep-killing parrot of the colder regions of the Middle Island. This destructive bird lias caused sheepfarmers down South great losses, and its habits being, in the main, nocturnal, its ravages arc not easily averted. The. lcea _ refuses poison, and is not to be trapped. His abode is the forest, and he swoops down on the fold like a thief in the night, and perching on the back of a sheep kills it by tearing out the kidneys. When not hungry the Jcea will worry its victim to death by pecking at its head or legs. The destruction this bird has caused is second only to that by rabbits. But there is this difference between these two pests: the one kills the sheep, the other renders it impossible for the sheep to live; the one murders for simple devilment, the other eats all other life off the surface of the soil. While, however, the losses entailed by the habits of the kca fall solely on the unfortunate sheep - owner subjected to its attacks, the rabbit pest inflicts a loss that spreads itself over the whole colony. The Itea is confined to certain districts, whereas the rabbit is übiquitous. There is very little comparison then to be drawn between the one and the other. Yet, while the Government have consented to grant a pound for pound subsidy to local bodies for the destruction of kras, it will not allow a sixpence of pnblic money to be spent for the suppression of the rabbit plague. The efforts that are now being made by the sheepfarmers of this province to preserve the country from ruin are directly in the best interests of the colony at large. The amount paid in property-tax by this district is very considerable, and it is principally paid by those who are to more or less extent bound up with pastoral pursuits, and the value of whoso property is wholly determined by the prosperity of those pursuits. It follows, therefore, that anything which directly affects those pursuits to their detriment affects the revenue of the colony. It would consequently have been thought that the Government would have been the iirst to have seconded the efforts of the sheepfarmers in. keeping away the rabbit plag-ue. As our readers arc aware, the sheepfarmers have voluntarily imposed on themselves a tax at a rate of a farthing per head, and the Rabbit Suppression Committee asked the Government to supplement the fund raised by that tax to the extent of pound for pound. The application was refused. Not so in the case of the destruction of Jcees. The Timaru Herald, referring , to this subject, does not quite see why public money should be applied to such a purpose. And our con temporary goes on to say:— "We are aware that some of therunholders in the back part of this district have applied for some action to be taken with reference to lecas, but wo do not understand that they asked for any pecuniary assistance. What they wanted was a legal enactment compelling every runholdcr to kill keas ■within his own boundaries, which is a very reasonable proposal. They complain, j usqly enough, that whilst one man goes to the expense of killing/;cff.s,lnsncighbordoosiiothing, andtlie birds breed where thoy arc left unmolcated, and. spread all over the district.

If all alike were obliged to look after them they "would easily be kept down, and in a little while, it is hoped, the pest would bo done away with. It eortaiuly does seem rather too much of a. good thing to apply not only ilio rates, which are raised for road purposes, but also a subsidy from the consolidated fund, to the suppression of a nuisance which only affects the runholders, and which, they are quite well able to deal with if they all work together. Wo had no idea that it was legal for the local bodies to spend their funds in killing keas, and wo .should like to have the opinion of some of our Road Board authorities on that point. It will readily be observed that the Jtca nuisance stands in quite a different position from the rabbit nuisance. The kens only destroy the sheep, which are the property of the runholders ; but the rabbits destroy the pasture, which is the property of the Crown. Tho mischief done by tho Iras, moreover, is a mere trifle compared to that done by the rabbits, while tho nature of the birds makes it improbable that they will ever become a really serious evil, from a public point of view. At the same tune, it must not bo supposed that the loss from has is altogether inconsiderable. From some cause, which we cannot explain, these rapacious birds have increasod immensely of late years, and they now play havoc among the flocks in localities where they were foi> morly quite unknown. They appear, too, to be gradually descending from their mountain haunts to the lower lands, and the name "mountain parrot" will soon be a misnomer. It has recently been ascertained that they breed at all seasons of the year. We heard the other day of a nest of four young Jccas having been taken in the Mackenzie country in the depth of winter. There is a good deal of difficulty in destroy. -*. ing them, on account of their nocturnal habits, and also from tho fact that they will not take poison. They attack the living sheep, and will not touch a dead animal.''