The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1916. JOHN SPARROW.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 16 August 1916, Page 2

The Chronicle LEVIN. TUESDAY, AUGUST 16, 1916. JOHN SPARROW.

iiiat tetAt hered post the isparruw still levies a big tell on tile farmers oi llorowhenna County, and lor this reason the tanners chuuki now with approval the fiorowhenua County Council's decision to obtain supplies of poisoned grain, tor sailo at cost- price to ! Lisid> tit.-, in the districts under its control. I lie loss occasioned by the depredations of sparrows (throughout New Zealand) has been estimated to amount to over two million pounds •sterling per annum, and the offset in the form of blight-killing and the destruction of caterpillars and other insects i.s infinitersimal by comparison. Besides, these benefits are derivable in greater measure from other birds; birus that avoid tile taking of poisoned grain. lor the reason that their diet i.s of different nature from that ol the .sparrow. The sparrow luib been a detriment to the farmer from the time the bird first began to multiply in these islands, and if his annihilation could be n<-oomp]islied. any resulting increase in insect, pest*- could bo overcoma by introducing some liird oi' more desirable habits than the sparrow possesses. Every farmer and. every settler in the county should) combine this spring to make the. poisoning campaign a) success; and lo this end the townspeople should co-oporate for benefit of the farmers, on whose suecesfs the prosperity of the towns depends. It is an incontrovertible fact that the towns arc 'a veritable (preserve for sparrows, and as the halbits of this bird are of such a nature that he journeys afar in. search of variety of scene and provisions, the fammere on tlie outskirts of the town* have to suiTcr from the incursions of birds for the existence of which they are in no degree responsible.