THE RABBIT PEST.

Taranaki Daily News, 19 May 1922, Page 5

THE RABBIT PEST.

AUSTRALIA’S PROBLEM. CONTROVERSY OVER DESTRUCTION By Telegraph.—Press Assn.—Copyright. Sydney, May 18. Press contention is raging round the advice given by Mr. Coleman Phillips, a New Zealander, to a pastoralists’ meeting, that stoats and weasels should be introduced to combat the rabbit plague. The meeting resolved to ask the Federal Government to permit their introduction. Mr. Symons, chief inspector of stock, declares that similar proposals have Leen considered from time to time by both, the Federal and State Governments. He says Mr. Phillips’ proposals are largely regarded as theories. Some years ago official inquiries were made in New Zealand, and the information obtained was utterly opposed to the proposal for the reason that introduced stoats and weasels had quite forsaken the pursuit of rabbits and become seriously destructive pests to poultry and all kinds of bird life. Later official reports from New Zealand all indicated the only effective methods of dealing with the rabbit pest were netting, poisoning and trapping. Mr. Froggart, vice-president of the Zoological Society, also issues a strong warning against the danger of introducing the Phillips methods.