The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1884. THE RABBIT PLAGUE.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume 6, Issue 1648, 31 March 1884, Page 2

The Wairarapa Daily. MONDAY, MARCH 31, 1884. THE RABBIT PLAGUE.

The time we believe is now arriving, when according to the prophetic judgment of the wise men who framed the | Rabbit Act, the rabbit plague should be • stayed through New Zealand, and the harsh measure which has been in force since 1881 should bo modified, The 0 best laid schemes of " mice and men," however are wont to miscarry, and we have Iho rabbits with us, north and south, east and west in spite of the drastic legislation which was to 1 extinguish them, The mistake that seems to us have been made is that the biggest proprietor of rabbits in the colony lias been practically exempted from the operation of the Act. This > biggest proprietor has rabbits by the . thousand, and in-some instances by the 0 hundred thousand in scores of districts, . and we need hardly say it is the Government, While the Babbit j Department has done good work in reducing the pest on the lands of lf private settlers, it has not had money enough at its command to do justice to 0 the Crown Lands' Where it ought to have spent a thousand pounds, it has only spent a hundred, and where it i. cuglife to lmve spent a hundred pounds j it has only spent ten, The consequence is that tho Government probably owns 1 many inoro rabbits now than it did * three years ago, and as it clears them off the properties of private J settlers, it breeds a fresh supply to replace them. We can trust the ' department to watch settlers, but we ? cannot trust it to look after the biggest rabbit proprietor. Jt is said that Now f South Wales is spending £BO,OOO a f year in suppressing rabbits, In destroying rabbits as in lulling men, money is an indispensablo factor. It has been spared in New Zealand, and it '• will only be when we realise with New 0 South Wales that large sums are ] necessary to cope with the pest that an effectual stop will be put to the plague. The failure of the Babbit Act in New Zealand is not creditable eithei to the Assembly or the Ministry. There are ' some people who are not sorry to see 1 it fail, and hold that the real remedy is to wait till the land is sufficiently r populated for men to crowd the rabbits ) off the noil A large majority, however,

of the settlers-in the colony have decided that the rabbits are to bo exterminated by direct and immediate efforts, and this decision, having been ratifietlby Legislature, it is idle to discuss the fixpedieiicy or inexpediency of it, The only point is whether tho.cxtermination is being effected in tlio most efficacious and economical manner, We believe that it is not, and that the faujtliesin a great moasure with the Government,