SCABBY SHEEP ON CROWN LANDS.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 871, 16 September 1881, Page 2

SCABBY SHEEP ON CROWN LANDS.

[To die Editor of the Waibarapa Daily.]

East Coast, September 11.1881,

Sib—As lam one dependant nn flocks and herds, I naturally take a great interest in and feel anxious about anything at all likely to have an injurous effect upon that which keeps my pockets replenished. The truth of the old saying cannot be gaiiisayed, " when anything is wrong go to the root of the evil."

It has been known for the last two years that scabby sheep have been breedin" in the Government bush at the back of Mataikuna, and their numbers have been frequently increased by stray sheep from the adjoining properties. As the neighboring runs are being fenced off from the Government land, the straying of sheep on to these lands will be stopped, But unless immediate and vigorous measures are. taken to destroy all sheep on the Government land the efforts made by the settlers on the Coast runs to erradicato scab from tho district will'be in vain. Now is the time when it could be most effectually doalt.with, the sheep being easily tracked, but the settlers can't' justly expect Government to do it all, sheep-owners must do their share, and I think that there is little doubt but Government will do all in their power to assist, Many settlers not knowing the ground

in question, may say what ought to be done. ;

Months 'before icab broki out North of the Whareama rivor, propoaala were made by the Inspector then in charge of the district to have the bush thoroughly searched, and an experienced man placed in charge of the Government -land, the... cost of his services not to exceed £BOV,V a year, and for which Bum he agreed "' to devote as much of his time as was necessary towards destroying and clearing the Government ground of stray sheep, The than Inspector warned the Government that if his suggestions were not. acted upon, that in all probability scab would break out on the Coast arid soma of the inland runs, and if so it would be impossible to tell where it would stop. Government did not see their way clear to take active steps in the matter, the settlers neglected to do so, and scab did breakout on the very properties which had been indicated by the Inspector, and, unfortunately, it has resulted iu a loss of many thouiaitds of pounds to the settlers in that part of the district. All the recent cases of outbreak of scab in the Whareama district havo been the results of the Government land not being attended to; I would therefore suggest that as a young and energetic man has not only been placed in oharge of. this subdivision as Inspector of sheep, but also holds office of Ranger of Grown lands, he (the ranger) should be requested at once to thoroughly examine the ground in question, and if he considers his predecessors were wrong, that ho ! should at once place before the Government his own ideas of what ought to be done. Unless steps are at once taken'to clear this Government land before dry weather sets in, scab may be spread on to the Napier district aither through thebush by the baok of Porongahua, or along the Const by Wainui. • The proposed boundary fence would not ensure the safety of the Napier district. It has been said that the ranger will poind all stock found on Government land. From my own knowledge I can say that the owners of stray sheep found on the Crown Lands in question Would gladly pay ten times the usual poundage fees to know that their sheep were secured so that they' could be destroyed. I have been told thai the ranger has not been upon the lands in question, if so, I can only say he ought to have bean, as it is a matter that may most seriously affect the interests of sheep owners on the East Coast and Whareama districts. I wish most earnestly to press upon the attention of aheep owners generally, and of those gentlemen in particular who were so active during the late agitation about the spread of scab in the Whareama and East Coast, the fact that in the Government land at the back of Mataikuna lies the root of the evil. I am, &c, Settler.