The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1881.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 3, Issue 918, 5 November 1881, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 1881.

Ifwc sudor from rabbits in Now Zealand we have the consolation of knowing that neighboring colonies are troubled with the same complaint. Indeed, the colonies of tho Australasian group can condole with each other on their suffering from a common enemy. This innocent quadruped seems designed to be that touch of nature which will mako tho whole colonial world kin. An exchange of experiences is going on now among the statesmen of the southern hemisphere on the rabbit question, which may lead up to InterColonial Legislation, In a recent number of the Hobart Town Mercury we have rend an interesting discussion re Tasmanian rabbits, on a motion in the House of Assembly, in favor of giving a bonus to a firm of contractors to export the pest to the London market. It was proposed to give the firm a monopoly to pot rabbits for a term of ten years, and a bonus of £2 for each ton of tinned rabbit meat sent out of the country. The firm undertook to send 1,200 to 1,500 tons every year. This tonnage, compared with what we could do in New Zealand, is but a trifle, but a small territory like Tasmania which was settled for a considerable number of years before New Zealand was ever heard of, it may be said to he respectable. The firm also engaged to spend some .£50,000 in establishing rabbit factories. The following were the objections raised to the proposal, which was rejected by the House- Ist, that poisoning would have to be discontinued ; 2nd, that trappers for the company would let all young rabbits and female rabbits which they caught go with a view to promoting the interests of their employers, I the eradication of rabbits meaning the eradication of the company, consequently the preservation of rabbits being material to its interests, 3rd, that the colony required not the utilization of rabbits but thoir destruction, It was pointed out that though the export of skins brought in an annual revenue of £12,000 to the Colony, the cost of producing this revenue was about £200,000 worth of grass. One recommendation which appeared to meet with favour was offering such a bonus on rabbit skins as would make it worth the while of professional rabbit men to exterminate the pest. Tasmania like Now Zealand has still to solve the rabbit difficulty though its task is easier than ours, as it possesses a far smaller proportion of broken and unsettled country than we have,