MANAWATU RABBIT BOARD

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVII, Issue 2914, 25 July 1925, Page 3

MANAWATU RABBIT BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeling of the Mnnawatu Rabbit Board was held in the secretary’s office on Thursday. Present Trustees B. G. Gower (Chairman), W. E. Barber, Flemming, Gloyn and Grammar and the secretary (Mr Roore Eangiheuoa). Mr D. R. Barron (Inspector) was also in attendance. Apologies for absence were, received from Trustees McKelvie, Boswell and Raikes. A letter was read from Messrs Abraham and Williams Lid., submitting quotation for Buzacott Blower and cyanide of calcium dust. —If was decided ihat a cyanide blower be procured, together with four tins of calcium dust.

It. was also decided to procure one tin of pollard and fifty bottles of strychnine.

The Inspector was recommended to circularise farmers lo carry out poisoning in August. Accounts amounting to £BB 15/3 were passed for payment.

INSPECTOR’S REPORT. Dunn" the past month I have been engaged in the general inspect ion of properties in the Board’s area, more particularly in the district north of the Taikorea Road. On the great majority of places rabbits have taken the poison well, while on several properties burrows have been filled in and the work done generally has been good. Tn company with Inspector Fleming, I attended two demonstrations in the use of fumigating rabbits by means of calcium cyanide. This method has been known for some time, to be very effective in the killing of all vermin, but owing to the deadly nature of the poison, was deemed to be too dangerorf> for general use. However, the machine used at the demonstrations, which has been patented by an Australian .firm, docs nway to u great extent, with the dangerous nature of the poison, as far as the user is concerned. The mixture used,is only four per cent pure synogen, the balance being made up of calcium and dry matter. The effects of the cyanide are no greater than, that of bi-sulphide, but the main advantage is that while bisulphide gas is invisible, the gas from the calcium cyanide is visible —the result being that only one burrow in a warren needs to be. fumigated, ns all leads from it become visible and no pop-holes are missed and the ground can be gone over in a. shorter space of time. I would recommend the purchase of a machine by the Board, together with a quantity of cyanide, and if suitable inb ducement. offers, the Board could employ two men to a machine, and the farmer, on whose land (lie machine is being worked, could be charged for the wages of the men and the material used. I would also recommend that farmers be circularised in regard to a spring poisoning on land which is not being fumigated. The Board area generally is in a good condition at the present time but, unless strict measures are taken at the beginning of the breeding season, the pest will become as considerable. as formerly. —Adopted. ANNUAL REPORT. At the end of the present month I will have been twelve months in the Board’s service, and the Board will have completed its first year of active administration of the Rabbit Act. I might say that when I first came to go over the district I was struck by the bad condition of affairs that existed and tlie apathy shown by a great number of settlers in regard to the ravages of the rabbit pest. This apathy is gradually disappearing, and the majority of settlers now recognise the importance of dealing effectively with the rabbits on their respective properties: During the past twelve months three simultaneous and systematic XJoisonings have been carried out, together with a-certain amount of trapping during the autumn months. Although weather conditions were not of the best during each poisoning, good results were obtained. Demonstrations in the use of bi-sul-phide were carried out in each part of the district, and twenty machines, representing about forty farmers, were sold and in all cases where the proper care has been taken and the work carried out in an efficient manner, good results have been obtained. I am glad to be able to report that the district is in very fair order at present, and the pest in becoming under control. Borne parts of the district are in better order tlian others and in this- connection I would especially mention a number of properties in the Carnarvon district, which'are-now practically free from rabbits. Taking the district as a whole, I would estimate that at the present time there is only from 10 to 15 per cent of the number of rabbits in the district that there were twelve months ago. Now that the condition of affairs in regard to the rabbit pest is favourable, farmers will have to realise that money must be spent in order to ensure further necessary work being done, as owing to the rapidity with which rabbits breed, without constant work, the pest will be as bad as ever. If farmers realise this fact, and also if certain areas which I have recommended, are enclosed by wirenetting fences, the time is not fax' distant when the clear country should, be entirely free from rabbits. The Board has more than justified its existence, and the matter now rests in the hands of the individual farmer himself.