THE Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1893. THE RABBIT QUESTION.

Temuka Leader, Issue 2532, 22 July 1893, Page 2

THE Temuka Leader SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1893. THE RABBIT QUESTION.

“ Time brings its revenges.” Mr C. G. Tripp, of Orari Gorge, has for years been trying to impress upon the people of South .Canterbury the danger in which they stood with regard to the rabbit pest, and now it appears that time is proving the correctness of his judgment. Mr Tripp was to a considerable extent instrumental in getting the rabbit-proof fencing in the Mackenzie Country erected to keep the ‘‘silver grey” of Otago from coming into Canterbury,but notwithstanding this there is ample proof that the pest is spreading with alarming rapidity. At the last meeting of the Mackenzie County Council the subject was brought under the notice of that body by Mr F. LeCren, and also by Messrs E. Richardson and T. R. Seddon, two landowners in that district. Mr LeCren stated that between 40,000 and 50,000 rabbits were killed between Tekapo and Pukaki last year, and a written statement submitted by Messrs Richardson and Seddon stated that on an area of 200 acres at Burke’s Pass 1500 rabbits were lately destroyed. They urged that the pest was increasing to an alarming extent, and complained of the inefficiency of the Rabbit Department, which, in order to save expense, had reduced the staff of the caretakers of the Mackenzie Country fences to one man. They urged that there was great danger in this, and suggested that a local board should be appointed for South Canterbury ; that all sheep-owners should assist; that active men should be employed to kill the rabbits ; that a rate should be levied on sheep-owners, and that every possible means should be employed to cope with the danger. The Council ultimately decided to confer with the Waimate and Geraldine Councils as to the advisability of forming a Rabbit Board. The publication of this statement of course brought out Mr Tripp, and he suggests that everyone who has rabbits on his laud should be compelled to kill them. He wants the landowners to do as he has done for years, that is, employ men at wages as well as at so much per skin. He says he has employed for the last 15 years, two men, with 14 or 15 dogs, in killing rabbits, and all they have killed is between 400 aud 600 rabbits a year. This is certainly the proper way to do it, but who will bring such energy and persistency to bear on the subject as Mr Tripp has done ? We are afraid that very few will; they will want the Government to do it for them; aud here we desire to point out to these gentlemen the absurdity of their position. These very gentlemen who think that the Government ought to kill their rabbits for them, are to a man opposed to such things as labor bureaus, co-operative labor, or any measure which in any way tends to benefit labor. Nothing should be done for labor; the State should not interfere; political economists condemn State interference, and so on; but the State should kill rabbits, We merely point this out to show the absurdity of the contention that the State should not interfere, but it is very remarkable that Mr O. G. Tripp, while practicing the self-reliance which others preach, has never been known to object to the Government looking after the interests of labor. Mr Tripp has kept down the rabbits on his own run without any assistance ; others who have a great deal to say about State interference, have allowed the pest to increase and multiply just because they depended on that State interference which they so freely condemn. But putting that aside, there can be no doubt that a local board could look after rabbits much better than any Government department could. A good man will do his work a thousand miles away from his master as well as if he were in his presence, but good workmen are not to be met with every day, and it is possible that some rabbit inspectors may, owing to the fact that they are not subject to much supervision, neglect their business. The whole thing would be under the immediate eye of a local board, the members of which would have a personal interest in the destruction of rabbits, and it is only natural that such a body would be more effective than any Government Department. At any rate, it is plain that the situation is getting critical, and that the sooner some decided action is taken the better. In the beginning of a disease it is easiest to cure, aud it is so with rabbits; they increase with extraordinary rapidity, aud unless immediate action is taken they may get beyond control.