RABBITS FOR FUR

Hokitika Guardian, 15 July 1929, Page 2

RABBITS FOR FUR

PROPOSED NEW. i INDUSTRY.GRAZIERS IN ,PROTEST. . CANBERRA/ June 28. There is a great to-do o.ver the question of importing Angora rabbits for wool purposes. According,to one authority, good Angoras yield at least £1 worth of m ,wool per head- per annum. A recent telegram from Sydney ran: —“Referring to the decision of the State Ministers for Agriculture in conference in Melbourne that they would offer no opposition to the importation of Angora rabbits into Australia, tli© president of the Graziers’ Association (Mr F. H. Tout) entered a strong protest against any .Government measure to license rabbit-breeding, as it would be a grave menace to the pastoral industry.” Mr Tout added that rabbits were one of the greatest curses afflicting our pastoral industry, and to legalise their breeding for commercial purposes would be decidedly detrimental to the true interests of the Commonwealth.

Clortainly it would be a very foolish tiling to do anything that was going to prove a menace to the production of sheep, for there is a great deal in the saying that the sheep carries Australia on its back. But it appears that there are rabbits and rabbits. In the “Dubbo Liberal” of a recent date, for instance, a special article by F. H. Shepherd appeared dealing with hutchrabbits, and he gave some wathfev astonishing facts and figures relating to the industry—for in some countries it is a very important industry. He said that last year, according to official returns, the hutch-rabbits reared in France yielded the immense sum of £44,000,000, the greater part of which went to small landholders. These rabbits are produced in quantities in Great Britain, and in March last the British Department of Agriculture .issued an appeal to small land owners to rear more of them, pointing out that, the demand, both for fur and flesh was increasing. Judging from what Mr Shepherd writes, the hutch-rabbits are not allowed to scamper wild about the country; they are kept in “rabbiteries” enclosed in wire-netting, and require feeding twice a day, their food consisting of green stuff, with a handful of brand, meal, or oats at one meal. During a dry spell hay and roots may be substituted. The* cost of stud rabbits in Britain ranges up to £IOO, but it is said that, to begin with, a man can start a rabbitery with an expenditure of £4O or £SO. Licenses may bo obtained in New South Wales to liutchfarm such rabbits as already exist in the State, but these have little value

for fur purposes. In New Zealand, ,the Minister for Agriculture has been convinced of the potential value of the industry, and the prohibition on importations has been removed. It is noteworthy, however, that when the Dubbo district branch of the Farmers and Settlers’ Union met about a week after the appearance of Mr .Shepherd’s article, it was decided to protest strongly against any attempt to breed rabbits for their fur. As one of the members, Air T. Williams, put it, “fur farming with rabbits is a farce, and its tolerance will re-establish an enemy that it has taken millions to keep under cotrol.” One imagines that the farmers ought to know whether there is a menace or not in this proposed industry. Fur may be a very important thing in the world to-day, but in Australia there is nothing more important than wool, and if the breeding of fur-rabbits is suggested on lines that might jeopardise our wool industry, it is bound to' receive short slirnt.

The whole question is receiving the close attention of both Federal and State Governments. Regard, ng the subject of Angora rabbits, it is not amiss to quote here from a letter which recently appeared in the ‘‘Sydney Morning Herald,” written by Mr John I. Dent, of Bowral: “I trust the Fed 7 ’oral Government’ will see that no more shores. It is not many years ago since our Government secured the services of a French doctor with a view of introducing a plague to destroy rabbits here, and now some Australians are talking about importing and protecting them.”