THE RABBIT ACT.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 2, Issue 505, 2 July 1880, Page 2

THE RABBIT ACT.

[To the Editor of the Waibuupa Daily. \ Sir, —In your issue of ;24th inst., you have a leader on a. .subject which >haa received scant attention from the Pries? of the district, although it has already been the cause of such an amount of loss as to quite dwarf the subject, of even Civil Service extravagance, lallude to the rabbit nuisance, j Public and private indebtedness may mount up year by-year, but if our ability to pny increases ;in like, or greater proportions, we Have little to fear. If, on tho other band, through rabbits or other causes, our productive power is orippled, we may well despair of keeping our head® above water. Admitting, therefore, the importance of the questioon it is" unfortunate that (no doubt with the best intentions) you should have so'thoroughly succooded j in misrepresenting the whole facts of the cose.

In the first place the " division of, opinion" is not botween the various districts, but between the varionsdistrict* and Awhea, tlije former being unanimously of the opinion that the employment of the best man! obtainable as an Inspector U, the only plracftieal mode of compelling the landowners to keep tha rabbits down to a minimum.! The minimum fixed by Wainuioru and Otaraia Trustees is when, in the opinion of the Inspector, a competent rabbit killer, with the usual appliances of j gun, dogs, &c., can kill ,an average not exceeding ten (XO) per day. It being evident that a number of rab-. bits admitting of & higher average would entail a proportionately .increased cost to keep them from even going beyond such higher average, there can therefore be no hardship in compelling every landowner i to do what is clearly to his own advantage. Six years' experience haa satisfied me that the above is no mere theory. Having upon one occasion allowed the average to get up to from 16 to 20 it took three men to put them down to the lower average, which I find one man is quite able to maintain over 1200 acres of by no means the easiest country in the district. Gats and hawks, also, then make a considerable difference, whereas they make no perceptible impression where rabbits are numerous. The firm conviction that action on the part of any one district upon the standpoint above indicated would result in very little benefit to the district at large, as compared with the operations of an Inspector covering as large an extent of country as possible, has been the sole cause of any delay upon the part of the Wainuioru and Otaraia Trustees, and not an stated in your article. Your own report •of Wainuioru and Otaraia Trustee meeting held at Matterton early in May, and the well-known fact that the unbusinesslike absence of Awhea Trustees at the Waihenga meeting involved a further delay of a month, are ample replies to any imputation of delay. Am to thej idea of an Inspeotor or ranger killing rabbits as well as inspecting thearea of between four and five thousand aoree of rough country comprised in the three Babbit Districts in question, it argues so little knowledge of the amount of work involved, at all events for some time to some, that it is scarcely worth combating. Much has been made of the question of expenses, but considering that an Inspector costs only one-ninth of a penny per sere, and .bearing in mind the fact that on one station alone in the district the rabbit damages must amount to several thousand per | annum, can it be questioned for a moment that the efHoient working of the Act would be cheaply purchased at such # trifling ?cost 7 One of 'your correspondents advocates cempulsory rabbit proof fencing between landowners, and refers to myself and others in support of this idea. Has he reckoned what it would cost the; district at £6O per mile ? When has, and where the amount can be obtained, .we •hall be hear from! him again. Strict enforcement of the Act will save us from any such foolish and unproductive ouilay. The difficulty of dealing With owners of adjoining native land was mainly the cause of my being compelled to erect any rabbit proof fencing. I am, ete., . ! . w. a Bochaju*. ,