CORRESPONDENCE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 4, Issue 1051, 18 April 1882, Page 2

CORRESPONDENCE.

THE RABBIT ACT,THE ADMINISTRATION OF JUSTICE AT MASTEItTON, •To the Editor. _ Sib,-We who are unable to attend the sitting of the R.M, Court can only take your report of the proceedings as our guide-in forming a. judgment on what takes place there.

In your issue of April the 6th you report thg hgapnj qf three qses under tjig Babbit ' i f . - In the fjrst case, that against Mr Day, the Court'says 11 we Have to decide whether efficient steps have been'taken to destroy the rabbits." It was shown that the defendant had been olearing scrub; to what extent does not appear, your readers can only suppose that the scrub falling waß really a olearing of a substantial part of the land, and that it was preparatory to an effectual raid upon the rabbits, No step probably is more promising towards the ultimate destruction of rabbits than the clearing of rabbit cover. The next case was against Mr Percy, There it was proved he had dona nothing. He was fined £1 and coals. No warning given, no consideration of the immense mischief he was doing to his neighbors, and-incidentally to the wliole aistrici' ! ; To destroy his rabbits would post Mr Peroy perhaps £3O, the CouftlneMfo and costs say 30a more j Mr Peroy (fill prefer many convictions to oomplianoe with the Act,

The next oase is that of Mr Peryy. Jtfr Perry.is my neighbor,' and J hope.my gi friend, but I deeply regret the coiirap ;Jp taken by the Court in his case, Apparently the Court looked upon Mr Perry as the victim of native lands, and was inolined io commiserate with him and discharge him'from all liability •' under the Act on that account. ' I cannot follow the reasoning. Mr Perry is required by the Act to take efficient steps to destroy the rabbits on his land; it is shown that he has not taken efficient steps :• his. excuse isf my neighbor is not taking efficient steps." Surely that may ho a reason for the Court to censure the neighbor, but not to excuse the defen- , dant. ;

Somo vs&io i<]ei, seeing lo 'in lie Court that fif • the conterminous lands belongito; Natives or the Government, the . ad joining 1 owner Is to be pitied and par-' doned, but I am Mr Perry's neighbor, and MrPeti'y is not excused by the Court from killing his rabbits, If I am summonefll concludo the Court will let me off when I say that I am bounded by Mr Percy who is hounded by the Natives. Mr Perry himself says that it woulu take half-a-dozen vabbiieis to effectually deal with ffie rabbits on his land, I t>o furtlier—it would take twenty. The fact is (apart from ferrets, which at present canDot be produced in sufficient numbers), there aro only two ways of dealing with rabbits as far as we know at present, when they have increased to the extent tliey have in all this district, viz., Ist olearing. the land of bush, scrub and fern, and 2nd, systematic aud lavish poisoning in winter,-, followed by Bteady hunting. The first must in many cases be a gradual process; tho latter we can all do. "What dißmays me in the action of the Court is tWfbsence of any sort of warnany oof expression- of determination to put the Act in force. . If tho Court had recognised tho impossibility of Mr Perry destroying the rabbits with men and dogs except at such cost as would be simply a forfeiture of the properly, and had, as they have a right lo do, nskod what steps he had taken lo deal with the rabbits in the ensuing winter, pointing out that a well-known, well-tried, N and effectual agency was in his power in the use of poisoned grain, and iliat if bo neglected to use it, and to an inefficient extent, and Was Bga'ih summoned, tho Court would deal with great severity, somo hope Would have revived in us that rabbits would really be efficiently dealt with in this district.

In tho light of these reports nil hope is taken away from us. : The rabbits have caused, are causing, will, pause, unless checked, enormous loßßen io this district and to the colony. The Government and the Legislature have recognised this evil as ono of very grave and serious import to tho whole colony. They have placed in the hands of the administrators of justice a weapon which, if firmly and justly used, will effect iis object'; if used feebly, used with uncertain hand and nerveless arm, it will .not only be obnoxious but harmful. If the' Court does not grasp the situation, recognise its responsibilities, nnd steel its tieanvwbat will happen ? While it pities A ( who refuses to obey the Act,' and inflicts on him n £1 line,'.it '-forgets that it ib imposing on li, bis neighbor,' who does obey, tho Acf, and who ig doipg hid utmost to kill his rp.bhih, a fine of tens, and.twenties, and even hundreds yfpounds, because owing to its ler.iency to' 4> B has' to. kill a con'innoin stream of: rabbits from A's lnpd or -fence against, them at ft cost of i'GO pc" nilr. Thh'leniency is no .fi"(!;V.i; even to A. As BUrbly as h' f'lr.wi vbbits to increase, so surely is b V.• rr s : iig bis block carrying poweis. , You y/nuk; oay si.it interest then will moke' v.:; rc ; , I;ufortnnatety there.are te"«; v.'-' lvfire to be taught.,by - ' V-- 0 inr—men who prefer tho rac s eating imperceptibly upon to tho v'ore tangible outlay or i'so or £IOO. Though |hfj tapgible outlay xnny ;\v!ly not ba a H tjt}ie of the gradual lor-s. I niay be said to tai;r a strong view and an interested view of this mutter, It lias takeftnie ne'rrly a yea;' to re&?i:.e wliai trifling with the rabbit pest mean 1 ;. It | seems to take some older cohmi:,!;; longer fen that. Tho iabbi!s are an enormous evil, but tjiey are not an evil without good,- . They have caused and will cause more reclamation and more improvement of land in a. short lime 'ban any other agency could probably have. effected, -hey call out the energies of men who know how to fightj and will not succumb idly to a threatened ruin. The moral of my loiter is that administrators of justice slioulfl fry to real mi, and public opinion should be stirred lu recognise thi grave importance of "bandouing all trifling in this matter. The public necessity'demands unflinching ndiinnistratiop of the law. less sheep in tbn Y.'iihv.npa means so much less money to be spent on labor-and materials, so ntucli less'in the pockets of worker!) and splhrs of goods. 'O'PjOOD'more . sheep means'an influx of i.ioney into 'the towns nud p. demand for fchor. If you have the rabbits you can't have the 6heep. ; ■ • I trust what I have writlen will not he taken, unkindly by the Court or the defendants. We aro all embarked in the • good ship .Wairarapa, and are all interested in her prosperous voyage. I am, &c., Roett S, Hawkins, Bowlands, 9 ; b April, IRB2,