RABBIT INDUSTRY

Hokitika Guardian, 24 June 1929, Page 2

RABBIT INDUSTRY

FOR BRITISH COLUMBIA. 1000 BUNNIES FROM AUSTRALA. (United Press Association—By Electric Telegraph—Copyright). OTTAWA, June 21. In a message from Victoria, the At-torney-General, Hon. Mr Pooley, who is responsible for the administration of the game laws in British Columbia, states: “It is the maddest-scheme I have ever heard of,” when he read a Sydney dispatch regarding a shipment of New South Wales rabbits to British Columbia. He declared that he would investigate the matter fully, as he had no personal knowledge of the matter. He added: “ The .Australian rabbits, I understand, are the. worst pest which the country suffers, and we are not going to bring it to this country.” SYDNEY, June 23. Regarding the proposal to ship Australian rabbits for British Columbia, a commission has been given by Government officials in British Columbia for the shipment of one thousand live rabbits from Sydney to Vancouver, with a view to building and establishing a rabbit fur and carcase industry in Canada. Mr Norton said that the good edible fur-bearing rabbit was in Canada considered to be a most desirable fellow, and there was no restriction on his entry in the Dominion, whereas the indigenous Jack Rabbit of Canada was generally unfit for consumption. It was proposed, he said, to release the shipment of rabbits from Sydney on several of the innumerable islands between Victoria and the Mainland. Mr Norton added: “I am one of those who believe that the Australian rabbit is an asset, and is not altogether a menace.”