THE RABBIT QUESTION.
Tq? the.. Editor.
Sir,—Most persons who have given any attention to,the the present Rabbit Act consider' it far from, .satisfaotoiy. : . .Reasons for that opinion are not hard to find, Any law of such a stlingent:ch'aracter ; ought at least to be' based' of common sense; but some of'.the provisions' of this Act are utterly opposed to common sense, for • they, demand from the settlers duties which, in a district like this at least, aro unreasonable, and in some cases impossible. W"e "have. here : j large'areas• devoted every year to grain .crops... Whilst the .crops', are/growing, the \ rabbits are breeding" very fast, and large ~ numbers of young ones find undisturbed shelter./in them. In'.due:'; course harvest ; time' arrives, - ;' when ;all the • cover hitherto afforded' by' the crops is'suddenly cut down ball difeocions, and the whizzing reapingmachines scare : 6ff;the ,rabbits ! 'to the nearest cover, where the'ownewof the land become liable to heavy penalties if they do not.kill them all at once,'. The abpve'process has been-going on for years; every year one.finding after the harvest a large apparent increase of rabbits <wherever there was.cover for them. Throughout last winter rabbits were well kept down, n about, vherei Travellers, and otners frequontly. remarked how comparatively scarce they worej/jand ;I believe there was. an article in the Daily to the same effect. Dogs will not hunt in the heat of the summer, and rabbits will not take poison; therefore! its stands-.toHreason that some* allowance rnade for the difficulty of contending 1 with the evil in the season referred to. I venture to say that as soon as cooler wither poisoning; timf.comes, scairce'r.inthis neighborhood than they have ever before been since they became a nuisance in the district;/- ;-.; n laHlA'Dif-UI They are much less numerous: here now ri described, than.they :were this time last Tyeaßj■ wereTmuoh less year 1 attfle'samo time ; than- the year befqre, <; './■. : ://''Y6ii^^'V''' ; :- : -/f.'-'
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Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1328, 15 March 1883, Page 2
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312THE RABBIT QUESTION. Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 5, Issue 1328, 15 March 1883, Page 2
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