NO MORE DROUGHTS

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXV, Issue 10713, 14 February 1913, Page 7

NO MORE DROUGHTS

WKIODJNG OUT THE RABBITS. aLIihWHHINK, Jan. -27. Si nets t lio publication in the Sun ol Mr !1. A. Hunt's theory '"hat Aus ~ tralia has nothing to ' o;u ' i''" 111 droughts whilst sue keeps tin* rabbits in reasonable chock, strong ,-tipp,ut has come from station managers and tlio secretary of great estate and luianco companies in Melbourne. One ol' tho foremost of these said i-o-dav.----"Wo undorstand rabbits now, _ and quite agree -with Mi' Hunt. We <lo not say that we have absojutely nothinjr to fear from poorness or ramiail ; but we admit that the bad >oars up t:> 100' i were largely due to rabbits." Melbourne station men have come to liato rahbits like poison. They , never eat the-m. '".Rabbits should we ] like chickens, for they feed j best Australia has,' 1 sa-!<l one. ! hey are -sold as poultry elsewhere, and are regarded as a good substitute tor chicken. For my part, f would make if, ;i. penal offence to trade io rabbis. What my company alone has spent in fHrhfnn' rabbits won'd make up IV" all tho loss that would accrue_ rhrough tli" stopoaw ol the, rabbit itiuu■■ti \ ■ Rabits have cost Australia hundreds of millions of pounds. Quite apart f.-in the oiioi'tmus expenditure nowadays upon rahbit. fighting, -imh as poisoning, ploughing. wire-netting, fencing, and closing up fields t« w>rin it of the poisoning of Hie <hims thee k ill! the loss of food. :\>ost of tho losses of those terrible yearknown as the. drought. years can ho traced to rabbits. People have o nlv tn remember that, the oxnort ostimnt* is tlmt ton rabl)its out as niurii as one s'hoop." r "Pn-s to valets hovo are very lyiporm. Thev say that not only have tiioy the rahbit under bettor control, hut Ike;, have dams and tanks ready for a drv spoil Prospects are bright. r o' - a good season. "Droughts?" said "no. "Australia hn.s no droughts. en in our worst year in Bourke vro only had one inch a year less than in our best years. It was tho rabbits; tliar beat us t hen. Our nnlv difficulty now is in tho distant .stations, whore a sheep needs, ten acres, and it does not pay to ien-co and poison. . But 1 will tell you this —1 want to be dictator of this country. 1 want it lor 2-1 hours only, and during those 21 hours such legislation would bo passed that there would bo no more trading in rahbits, and' rabbits would alldie. \\ c arc so strict with our station manager's now that tho other day wo cleared tho rabbits oft one station at tho manager's expense,, becauso ho declined to t-ako action until the owners of the small rabbit-infested places round the stations would consent to take action also. Wo allow no dill.v-dallyi,ng inuv vrith tiro posts."