THE RABBIT PEST

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 10713, 17 December 1912, Page 3

THE RABBIT PEST

DKL'AKTMKNTAL lUvPORT. The. following ;vforein.:e to the rabbit pest is continued in the annual j report of the Agricultural Dopart- ; mo:u :—■ The state <;i' the rabbit, nuisance cannot bo said to have materially altered. There is the fact, tiiat where the rabbit is considered simply a | nuisance and at) *\i:-'.\l",'': effort made to reduce the numbers v;;o control is j maintained, and the pest does not j cause serious limitation of stock in Infested areas. This •t!n:\,i not gen-erally-apply where the vermin is regarded as a source of profit. While the number- ebb nod How owners are .satisfied—or. rather, they remain nncouceriied. The business o( trapping for export is firmly established. Coercion by statute is inapplicable in viev.' of public opinion and of what may be termed the vested interest in the rabbit. During the summer and autumn a comprehensive examination of a great part of the rabbit-infested ' country ha?' h.poii completed by the Field Supervisors of these districts. This reveals that the pest is under control in settled districts and on the land under the of the I" a hint Hoards of Hawko's Hay and the East Coast. The ?amo applies to the enormous territory of unoccupied lands of southern Auckland —that is. the Taupo Plateau, and, on the greater part, the mountain country from there to the occupied lands of Northern Hawko's Bay. The examination showed that owe extended control will be required on some of the last-named country. It will be arranged that these affected localities will receive attention. The officer in charge reports that very efficient control of the pest lias heen ..secured by the East Coast 1? a libit hoard, and that there hi every evidence that this satisfactory position will ho maintained. He is of the opinion that the, rabbit lias been so thoroughly dealt with where it was menacing the settled country that the advance has been entirely set hack. The Hawko's Bay Board continue*.' the systematic control that has been characteristic of its work, and the" Department is indebted to its officers for undertaking poisoning on country that is outside it,y actual boundaries. where it would be particularly difficult and costly if the Department itself had undertaken the operations.