THE SINFUL WAYS OF RABBITERS.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1186, 21 November 1884, Page 3

THE SINFUL WAYS OF RABBITERS.

How the money goes in the destruction of rabbits in New South Wales has just been disclosed in the course of a trial in the Deniliquin Circuit Court. Some of the persons employed at this work have, it seems, got into the habit of making the scalps they have secured lo double, nr even treble, duty when presenting their accounts for payment. Of the extent lo which that was done in the cast al>ove referred to, some idea may be fo med from the (act that he number of scalps claimed for in the first week of their being employed was 6.0, ami that in a few weeks it amounted to 1700 Why this latte increase in so short a time nobody could un erst ind, but it was attribute I by Mr Mornson, the inspector, to the diligence of Messrs Robert a id Charles Jackson, father and sun, contractor for the work, and s i it would have continued to be but for an n r f .rtunate eircnmsiaiii e. Neither Jackson the el ler nor Li s<m could drive such a roaring trade as ibis without assistance, and one of the person- they employed insulted Jackson the elder’s wife, on which be got kicked out of door, an l went off to Arumoo, the ha«d station, and told the overseer how this mu'tip i ation of scalps in snob au incredibly slim t space of time had occurred. When the Jacksons fir.-t went to wo k they were fairly honest in counting the scalps to the inspector, but they soon found a wav of m iking three scalps out of one skin, by taking a str p off the back, and converting it into two scrips sometimes by sewing one ear on, taken from another scalp, sometimes not. Then again, they dug pits or holer, i into which the scalps were tin own, after they had been counted over to fheinsp c or, and where they were to he borne I, be so contrived as that the pro ess of incineration should ho stooped by sand an I other rubbish f tiling in, and so managed that they would do to be counte 1 over again, with a few fr sh ones added to them Morris >n, the itsppeto , appe rs, from the way in which he gave bis evidence at the trial, tu he an astute man enough ; hut he could not examine 1700 sc tips in a day, nor could he tie sure that the scalps were all burnt, although he “ sometimes poked the fire about to S'-e that they were so.” Where the chief fault appears *n have been in thi* case was in not requiring the Jackson’s to report themselves at head quarters with their scalps, instead of a'l .wing them to mature their fraudulent schemes at their own homes, ami draw upwards of I 2 i 0 tor wo k done in a few weeks, with a cousi lorahle balance due, wh m they ha I probably n>t earned [,50. But ihere are, it is feared, many ■ * Jacksons’,—many rabbit cal chern in New South Wales—who deserve to be punished, as these two men have been, wi.h sentences of two years for the former and six months for the latter, on the charge of conspiracy to defraud ; and there is much in this to operate as a caution to others elsewhere as Well as there. Far he it from us to say that them are not as great scoundrelin the other Colonies as in New South Wales employed rabbit catching, although they lack t e opportunity of mannf ictnring three scalps out of one skin, or of reproducing thou-ands of those supposed to > e burnt and no longer to I e found. Yet many ug'y stories were afloat, a year or tw ago as t • frauds practised by rabbit catchers in the south eastern portion of South Australia proper, an ' there may ba some need for caution in Victoria, now that we are ahont to legislate again on the pu 1 ject. No means for the destruction of these pests, wherever they exist should he left unemployed, and loophole of escape from the rashes of the law for those «-hose duty it is to enter upon this work and who do it negligently or dishonestly. This is one of thos • things, as we have said before which should be done by the (Juvernment at the ex|icnse of the j locdifies concerned, and done siraul- | taoponsly on all hands in the Colony— I whether leasehold, lie nsed, freehold, or

rown pronertv. Every dietiict might then be clearel from end to end. thoroughly and systematically; nid anything short of an attempt at this must and will b« a failure. — Age-