THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 1267, 11 June 1886, Page 3

THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

(Herald’s Special Correspondent.)

Wellington, Jane 3rd. The Superintendent Inspector ot Rabbits in his report to the Colonial Secretary says, inkr alia—" Matters have not progressed so satisfactory towards the destruction of the pest, nor is the outlock ns favorable as has Iwen the case in previons yesrs.' In fact during the last three months the increase has been far in excess ot anythin" experienced during the previous season. No doubt the winter poisoning will again reduce the numbers, lint the question arises, where is the annual tax to end I am stdl of the,opinion I held three years ago that no schema has yet bedii prdjiosed that • (Tactually deals with the question; and I adhere to the suggestion t niade in ) SS3, that a reward should lw offered-efficiently large, to induce scientists to give the matter their attention. Some time ago I obs-rve i that the South Australian Government ha 1 sent to Germany for the purpose of introducing rabbits infected with a species of scald.a peculiar to them, and'whieh is said to destroy great numbers of them, and from its debilitating effect re luces their breeding power enormously. It is something in this direction that should be sought after As the natural enemy is helping considerably in checkin? the increase of the rabbits, and in some places hooping th:m Within bounds, ferrets this your have been turned out in considerable numbeis, and are becoming wi le’y sp bad through the whole rabbit areas. In Marlborough some thousands are used. The gr»at dra - hick to success is the want of medio i in dealing with (he rabbittiug ground. Dogs and other means are resorted to as wed, which at once ensures the destruction of the natural enemy. . The supply of fenets should- he kept up annually, nor should any be turned out till ihe pest has in the first instance boon greatly re bleed in numbers. Even as far as W aiau, in Southland, they are doing well, an I as many ns were procured have been placed on. the waste lauds in that locality. It mty 'he interesting to record the results ob ainel from :he first. I board of the weasels which arrived here in 18S4. They were- 1 turned out on a peninsula containing about 8001 acres at the Wanaka lake, and shortly after their release a diminution of rabbits in the neighborhood was apparent. L"v*t year only a portion of this peninsula was poisr.net, and this year the rabbits are reported to bo still fewer. It is proposed not to poison on this block at all this winter, and to watch the result. Where the weasels Wi-re onginal’y placed scarcely a tab i: is to be seen nor until the extreme ground is reached on the furthest point from where they were released. In tVa case, should the result be satisfactory, it moans that an area of bally infested country, 81)00 acres in extent, has Ireen permanently cleared at an expense fit about LSOO lu other localities where these animals have been liberat'd the same conditions do not exist. They were neb hj r turned out in largo numbers at one spot, nor were they, as on the Peninsula, confined to certain limits; conserpiently the remits have not been so manifest, hut, ah the same time, rabbits killed by them have been found repeatedly. This year I agon visi- ed the head of Lake Wanaka' and the Han't saddle, and there is no doubt that the rabbits hj ive increased since last year, I e-peoiaily towards the saddle, but on both runs near it, lower down the lake, they ; have been reduced considerably. No fresh I methods have been reported as having been used during the year.' One is now being' brought under the notice of the department by a resident in Ora go, who claims to have discovered ihe means of poisoning rabbits with phosphorised grain as effectually daring the summer as in the winter months, tut even if so this cannot be tested for some mouths. Thcie is no doubt that phoaphorised grain in winter, together with the natural enemy, are the most efficacious means yet attempted, and failing any blither importation of weasel*mid stoats for the inaccessible country, I would strongly recommend that two ferret-breeding depots be established -one to be situated at the Head of Lake Wanaka, so as to supply the llusst Country, and between that and Hawea and the other one on Lake Ohan Station to supply the country on the west side of Dohson River, and further that Government continue to offer such a price for breeding them as will induce persons tn go largely into it, the who'e number so pro curable to be released throughout the Crown lands of the colony, and specially on the rough and unoccupied atom. Although last year has been a disastrous one, yet 1 do not think that the rabbits have actually increased in number. I know positively myseif that in some places they are less numerous than th y were provious’y, hut undoubtedly the general effect of the pas: season’s work is less apparent, ] and this winter's poisoning will again reduce them within certain limbs. That no actual increase occurred is proved by the sheep returns, which in the infected districts show a considerable increase again this year, which could not be the case had the rabbits become ns im.-ncrou- as form- rly. The great difficulties we have to deal with are the vast areas of waste land, commonages, reserves, and several other descriptions of land which are thrown on the department, and which coni I be let for grazing purpose* and the Government relieved of this question. Sane uniform . system should be initiated throughout the , colony so that waste lauds, etc., shoul I be , dealt with similarly to private lands, and I thus give relief to those persons whose pro [ perties adjoin i-heso areas.” In giving the result of an enquiry into the actual working of the Rabbit, Nuisance

Act in the Waihemo ami T.ipannt districts. Mr Under-Secretary Cooper says-: “1 found complaints to come mainly from holders of comparatively small properties, who allege that, do what they will to reduce the pest on their respective J holdings, the rabbits come down in swarms from large runs nnd overrun then - , devouring their grass and growing crops. This undoubtedly is a fact, and the nature of things must remain so in rpito of every effirt that ea>- he made to check it by the officers ot the department, by the smaller propertyholders, and by the innholders ami o’her large proprietors themselves. The small

holdings are of the best soil and the least broken countiy, whilst the vuus contprises pooier and more rugged hill tops, difficult and often impossible of access, and among whom rocky summits ami picoipitons gullies the rabbits breed almost uudislurbod ilibqps cf whence they issue in

Hordes in scarcer-ffrtpd, /tnd-descend on the ,cultivated lands below. -Is is'very natural that ha- (l working'mW living -oik.Mkl dor. the moat part themselv is (mhivating th-ir moderate-sized) prop r ies should feel aggrieved at seeing thorr crops devastated by Jiorflis of hungry enemies descending from the lands of their wealthier neighbours: It is however d : fficutt to see a remedy for this state of things. If the larger proprietors could ha deprived of their estates and sent out of the country the result would only be an aggravation of-the evil, ahff Lnm about.jto say my inquiries haye Ipd nan to the conclneiuathat the large owners have' used every possible exertion to cope with the pest. That.those exer■'tions have not been completely successful is to be deplored, but that they have been made is beyond doubt in my mind. 1 do not think that any complaints, which can be characterised as being of a serious nature have been established - against inspector or agents who act under-him. My enquiries have satisfied njs that they are performing their difficult and onerous duties conscientiously and as well as the circumstances by which they are surrounded will allow.”