THE ROOK MENACE.

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XVII, 23 November 1927, Page 8

THE ROOK MENACE.

(To the Editor). Sir, —The H.B. County Council treat the matter of the rook menace very lightly, and it is really a very serious matter for those small landholders who have to suffer loss through them; some members of the Council think it just a matter to be funny about. The rooks are a serious and growing menace to the smaller landholders, and sooner or later the pests will have to be wiped out—no half measures, they must be exterminated. We want small holders, instead of rooks, we cannot have both. The County Councillors are not playing the game in undertaking to abate this nuisance. Their doing nothing can’t stop at that. Something will have to be done. If the present Council won’t do anything we shall have to see about getting a Council who will do it, or some other body. The rooks will have to go. I have noticed, in times past in the report of their meetings, opinion expressed that all the rooks in Hawke’s Bay could he wiped out for a pound. Well, do it. I will find the pound, just to get the matter settled without any further trouble. The rook’s diet is mainly vegetarian, such as corn, maize, seeds, potatoes, nuts, fruit, etc. The few worms and insects they destroy could lie much more profitably destroyed by fowls. The rooks live and increase entirely at the expense of the smaller landowner and naturally he has enough pests to deal with without them, and wants to be quit of them. Until he is clear of them the failthing would be for those large landholders who fancy (wrongly) the rooks benefit them, to pay for all the damage they do. This would be only justice. One can’t now grow walnuts without their taking a heavy toll of the crop, and if they are not wiped out, 'in the time to come they will be a far more serious menace to oiligrowing fruit industry than ever the fireblight can be. The rooks will have to go.—Yours, etc., JOHN RICH. Havelock North, 21/11/27.