THE SHEEP AND RABBIT COMMITTEE.

Mataura Ensign, Volume 7, Issue 409, 14 November 1884, Page 5

THE SHEEP AND RABBIT COMMITTEE.

Mn Cowan's Evidence. To tliu Chairman : I have had great experience oi: the rabbit pest F I have been settled in the Southland .District for twenty-six years, and tho country I occupied was about the first visited by rabbits — -on the coast, at a spot situated about forty miles from where we know they were before. In 1872 it was that T discovered rabbits so far inland. In the course of three years they overran the entire country. They had complete possession, and we could see then that they were gradually making their way north. The first step we took in the district was to carry out the llabbit Trusts Act. The Government, as you know, afterwards took over that department and combined it with the Sheep Department. From my experience I should say that, had the Government been efficiently represented by appointments properly filled, the machinery would have been adequate to bring about the desired end, and kept the pest within reasonable bounds. In our district we are very much dissatisfied with the conduct of the Eabbit Department — at the present time. Of the Sheep Department we have no reason to complain, for we have been clear of scab for fifteen or sixteen years. Our great _ objection to the conduct of the Eabbit Department is that Tom, Dick, and Harry are taken into its employment without any reference to fitness or efficiency. Just to show you how this is, I shall give you an instance, from which you may conclude that the prejudice against the department in the district has not been unwarranted. One of the Sub-Inspectors had been previously a pieman and fishmonger. He was a friend of my predecessor and assisted him in his canvass. Soon after that gentleman's return, .ye fiud him hoisted into this position. He is a Sub-Inspector at the present time. I have asked the Governmenf to remove him, for the whole district is up in arms. That is not an isolated case ; but that has created a prejudice against the department. Now that this pest has been twelve years amongst us, tho people there see the necessity for exertion to keep ifc within bounds. If the department were efficiently filled, the difficulty would be easily kept in check. My view is that the conduct of the department should be vested in the local body. I believe that, if the counties had the supervision o£ the conduct of the persons employed under the liabbit Act, a state of greater satisfaction with the results would have been brought about, for local knowledge anil local influence upon the conduct of its officers would be brought to bear very much more quickly than -ander the present system. We fe^l very much that the power from which action is to be looked for is centred far away. I think it could be so arranged : if the control could be given to the local body, to the country the result would be more satisfactory. I would separate the two departments—the Sheep Department and the Babbit Department. I have no objection to the conduct of the Sheep Department. 1 think it is well managed; but to bring about a better state of the Rabbit Department I would have the management localised. There is no reason why the Sheep Department should not be embodied in it ; but I haA T e no objection to the Sheep Department. I will tell tho Committee my experience in killing rabbits ? Nothing succeeds so well as phosphorised oats. I introduced sixteen ferrets and three woasols, and put them out on my own property. Now the country has been overrun with ferrets. Nothing has been seen of the ! weasels. I have not the slightest reason to complain of ferrets on the ground of sheep being attacked. To Mr Waterhouse : They brood. To the Chairman : The rabbits are not increasing, we have managed to keep them ataboutthe samo number for several years. In consecmence of the pest the power of carrying sheep has much diminished, but there is now an apparent improvement in the neighborhood occupied by me. In killing rabbits all my neighbors are doing their utmost, but they can only just keep them down to the same point. The summer .makes up for the number reduced in winter. We find they do not take the poison in. summer, although you have had evidence from the North Island that rabbits will take the poison in summer as well as winter, If true that would be a considerable gain. That result is achieved in turning over a sod. to attract the rabbits. To Mr Williamson : I would lay the poison on the sod : it is the newly turned up ground that attracts the rabbits. The unoccupied Crown lands in Southland are one great source of the rabbit pcst — a very great.sourco ; bnt it is not so menac--1 ing now as it was some years ago. Sup- , pose the Rabbit Act were administered locally, it appears to me that theye is more difficulty with regard to qccupied land. Crown lands can be treated much more easily than some time 'ago. For it should not be forgotten that the snow is an immense factor in reducing the number Jof rabbits. Originally ills rabbits thrived at the bottom of the snow, but after ajjfew years' close eating the roughness has disappeared, and they are now> starved above tho snow lino, if you poison the ground in winter below the snow line there ia every reason, to believe they will be kept within reasonable 1 bounds. '< To Captain Fraser : I remember an occasion when we sent up a man to an ajjbifcude of 5000 feet, and he found the rabbits all dead, It is a fact that just below the snowline you will clear them very much quicker. The very be<t rah--1 bits were to bo *foun.d high up on the mountains ; but now they cannot live « there,

To the Chairman : You have heard a ; great deal about the Inspectors compelJuig persons to put on rabbiters witli i d«»i/s, That is the worst method. I would recommend simply poison and the natural enemies— ferrets in particular. , lo Mr Williamson: It is my opinion that, as it is, the post has been got so much undrr that very much less expend), turo in this department may serve the purpose iE there is a good Inspector 10 go over the ground, seeing that people are doing their duty in this matter— so long as local influence were brought to bear on that Inspector : this would be an essential part! of the arrangement. If [he were appointed by the department and it were known that he was appointed for this special purpose,, t having so great an interest in clearing the country 1 o£ rabbits they would look after him, and t see that he did his duty; so long as he had power to select suitable men to assist him. We had very suitable men in the district, but now the riff-raff of the country are foisted upon the Inspector to act as his substitutes. To Mr Waterhouse : I have complained o£ political, influence being brought to bear in the employment of Sub-Inspectors : I think that under county authorities local influence would be brought to bear quicker. I think most essential to bring about the strong effect of local feeling in this particular matter. Fvery month the report of the Inspector would come before the Council. I fancy myself that the local feeling would ibo (more successfully brought to bear in this manner. No doubt it is the case that the majority of the members would be small proprietors who have not tho same interest in the destruction of rabbits the large proprietors hare ; but tho case has become so serious [that [this fcelijig cannot have much weight. The interest of ihe country on this question is understood even by County Councils. The district of Southland was the first in which the llabbit Trust Act came into operation. There we did not fiud that the local influence was through t to bear adversely. During that time we had many prosecutions for want of energy — just as much as under the management of the Government. It was complained of — the fact of local influence being so strong ; so that it led the Legislature to determine the entire control of this department should be placed under the Government. To the Chairman : I do not keep any rabbiters employed to shoot rabbits ; but trust to phosphorus and the natural enemies. 1 have been able gradually to increase my number of sheep of late years. The first three years I had rabbits on my property my sheep were reduced from sixteen thousand to seven thousand; that was the maximum of reduction when the pest was at its worst. On the property now there are about twelve thousand. The continued increase of the number of sheepj attribute to the effects produced by the phosphorised oats and the ferrets. To Mr Walker: The Rabbit Inspectors do not indicate any process at all. They don't force us to put on rabbiters. They give notice under the Act ; in some cases they follow it up by proceedings in the Resident Magistrate's Court. The Resident Magistrate, as a rule, accepts the ijjse dixit of the Inspector. At one time I used jrabbitters and dogs — there was a considerable portion of the population with dogs, employed in trying to extirpate the pest. There are very few dogs employed now ; it had rather a disastrous effect upon the proportion of population so employed. To the Chairman : As long as I had rabbiters I was unable to increase the number of my sheep. •To Mr Walker : I think that the population who take to nbbiting is demoralised. I have my douMs as to many ; it does debase some. What they do afterwards I cannot say. I see a great many girls and boys working at it from day to day. To Mr Nurse : I have a great objection to many Inspectors that are employed, but Ido not mean to decry the Act, The Act is unfair in that it does not give to the defendant any opportunity o£ adducing that ho has done his best to reduce the rabbits on his property; that is to say, the Inspector's statement is taken to bo sufficient. He can state what you have not done.; and yen are prohibited from bringing counter evidence. But as to tho Act itself, you cannot be too severe in bringing about tho destruction of* the rabbit- as far as possible, : . . To Captain Frasert .'.-It is the case that they have left the places where they were first in, my district; they, were starved out. Thcro were sandhills in which they used to burrow. They consumed almost tho entire vegetation in the neighborhood, the wind covering "the vegetation with sand. They are away entirely from the places where they were formerly through starvation. It is my opinion that with phosphorus' and the ferret, and' without the assistance of rabbiters and- trap ;, you can keep thepesfc under. I believe the application of phosphorus to oats for the destruction of rabbits was a discovery o£ momentous interest to the country. To Mr Campbell : I am sure this pieman I refer, to has not. done anything to keep down rabbits. To the Chairman: Respecting the Acfc_ itself, tho only point I would refer to is that adduced by tho Hon. Mr Nurrio, that under the Rabbit Act they will not hear contra evidence against the statement ot the Inspector. That possibly was necessary in dealing with the pest at first, but now it might be fairly modified. It would be a fair alteration in the 10th and Bth soction, as to the notices for < ; nogleot to comply with the Act," and for <s continued neglect" after the expiration of " one month : " ono " month is too short, and it ought to be " two " months ?