THE RABBIT NUISANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume 4, Issue 270, 18 October 1883, Page 2

THE RABBIT NUISANCE .

The rabbit question is Rooming larger land larger every day m fjhe ; eyes of^he public. Much as has been gaid on the subject lately, the fo} owing statements made ia a recent pamplet by Mr Tescke^ maker, of Nelson, on the subject will -probably come on most of our readers jwith a shock of surprise, Mr Tesche- ' maker, m a paper on the rabbit pest, 'make? the following startling propositions :— (1 ) That the annual loss of the colony through the ravages of the rabbits is greater than the entire interest on the Public Debt. (2) That the pest is increasing, and if we go on as we a--e doina; "we shall be a roioed community r ih ten years." In the year 1874 th r : were ), 181, 369 acres m tbe Ci lony lai-j ia; anificial: grasses ; this, together wjth native tUßsoc.k land, served to de^ pittuyd H',704,858 sheep, and tbe export of w,6ol'was J £2,832,695. Four '^years later—^that is to say, in' lß78 — '"%e Jand under ! artificial grasses hal more than doub'pi (2,608,839 acres)', but the number of sheep carried had only risen one-sixth, and the export of

wool ahout one-seventh. The obj-ctof the paper, as a Wansranui contemporary remarks, is apparently to bring pressure on the Government to take effectiT* steps for suppressing the ppst by providing for the extermination of rabbits on the p .blio estate, and br voting a sum, say £200,000 per annum, for tha importation and breeding of the ferret as the natural ensmv of the rabbits. The .pap^r -goes on to show thitthe - pnbho estate ia ptago, and Southland has depreoiatad fully 50' per cant, ia conseqaence of-the peit, or representing . a loss m landed property to the colony • of: £3,030,000* with an additional \ annnal Joss m decreass of pro j action of £ 1 ,700,000 . The cost of keeping the rabbits under on. private property is. iu^ stanoed'in the case of a Balcdtba farmer, whose exj ens ?s on this score averaged 3s. 6d pec acre. .The paper further refers to the enormous rapidity which rabbits spread over the country, and the writer. holds that m the rabbit nuisance is U be found one of the leading causes of, the present depression throughout th© colonr. :