RABBIT BOARD.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3611, 11 September 1890, Page 2

RABBIT BOARD.

The monthly meeting of the North: Wairarapa Babbit Board was held yesterday. Present—Messrs WAltf Beetham (in tlie chair), Maunselij Groves, Moore, and Murray. The minutes of the previous meeting were read and confirmed. '■■'■■[■"■**■■' CORBBSPMbENOE."'.' './"" reference to the {rating of the Waioronga estate, objeotiiig.to .paying rates for Bheep running on land 'which aidi not belong to him, and enclosing ..rates for other'propcrties. After some-'discusi. sion'it swas 'decided to defer, the mattertiill;;'next meeting with','the hope tbatan .'amicable .arrangement might be arrived at. '- ! v-;' '.,: ; FroniDivCanieron, stating that .the rating of his stock was wrong, and requesting '■ to v "'be rated; on his last return, The Chairmau suggested that as this-j difficulty' might again occur, the rate be struck on. the present stock owners' list. It was resolved to le*ye : 'the matter oyer till; next meeting, and in the meantime to take legal opinion on the subject., < The Clerk reported that tates

amouutiug to £468 Hs lOd had Keen collected during the month.. With subsidy (£338 ISs/lOd) "the income for the month was' £Boßi 'Bs Sd, The expenditure . was 4518; 2s 5d leaving a balance of f 289.i Ga' : 3d,Accounts outstandingjWere reported as amounting to flGfc^K",-v, ■*£' Accounts were passed for paymen(|| i i^,j:j.!; Considerable discussldntensfledjdii;. the question of paration of Btockownerß^s^|p : appears that the list bad been prepared for the Sheep Department and chargedfov/but in it was made out by Mr Drammond and charged for a second time. It was resolved to got'further information on the subject before passing the accounts forpaymit. , '''. ' / :,: ' ■■'■■ •■ inspector's bepobt. ;•'"';'

The report of the Inspector was read as'fdllovfs: — " •.■•..■..,•,-■''.." Sir—Since tho last meeting of the Board the portions of the'district that I had. not! time to go over have been inspected, together with, other areas, and I beg »o band you my report Ihereon. I am pleased to be able, to inform you that the southern portion of the district on the Pahoa River and East Coast, as far as the' Kaiwbata, is generally very clear of j rabbits, this result■ being, lam ofj opinion, mainly due to the assistance' ot the natural enemy. The in the Alfredton and 'Brauniea District is also in; a isaWactory condition, rabbits, probably owing to the wet climate, never having increased to any gceat extent, "■"■ '.-' t: - lj ■'■"■■l On some properties .that I .mentioned in my diary tui being rather badly infested, good work has 'since been done ; but I regret to slate that on some faw others owners are so blind to their own interests, that of their, neighbours, and tte district at large, that no satisfactory results have so far been accomplished in keeping the pest down at this most important season of the year. In these particular cases I propose to lay informations against tho owners, unless the most octivo measures are at once taken to comply with the notices issued to destroy the rabbits. I trust, however, that these owners will be»rue alive to their interests }nd bestir themselves, and deal wjth the pest in such a inanrior as will obviate the-necessity qf extreme measures' being resorted to. (Oaken as a whole satisfactory progress is beiug made to keep tho rabbits down, tut in order to give the " natural enemy" every chance, active and continuous steps; must bo insisted Bpon i ; forj6ome'tinie,to come; v-:> ; ! Poisomifg : liasVnp'7 been completed alhiost everywhere;-1 find th'aVwhere land has been poisoned a second or third time the result has not been so satisfactory as'waß anticipated By the owners, The best work basbeendone where the poison was laid well, and expeditiously in the first instance Inmaking these remarks I dp not do so ?itb the object' of" (ijscouragini! persons to. poison a second or third time, as J. belief a gr¥fc many rabbits have been destroyed by these means, but merely to point out that it will not do to trust tod much • to' it/ and not resort to other means of destruction,

' Good work is being l done 'by 'the "natural enemy," and I have reliable

information from several sources that stoats and weasels have actually been seen killing rabbit?, while there are numerout instauces of numbers of

,bbi(s being destroyed in burrows and tbe'r "places by tbem, 1 regret o'weve'r; to'haye'toreptfrt that "' there re Jhree cases "known of oats' having irouglit i'gto the. homesteads weasejs thkti they bad' evidently 'kjlled, yhethor pats or wqaseinipre thi ggressprs jt is difpculf to detprmine I am pleased tojnfornj you that thor 3 an inclination to do away with larg. laoks of dogs and in lieu of them to us he spade, gun and ferrets moro freely )wners who have tried this plan seen atisGed with it, and from my owi ibservations 1 notice that where lai-g iaeks of dogs are used the rabbit [re'tlje'thiekoifc op rough country. In ; travelling over theVfln'tfy/ani n connection' with ownbrs 1 , I fln< here is a great want of some uhifdrn lystemof dealing with' the' rabbi mjsaiice, and that iti : many case hero Is not 'that jntojligent,anper risidn of Jrpbbittere,thi t; is" '"'ijeowiar; o'ensure'lhe greatest good,-1 % hat men are allowed to hunt almos jdiereth>y please, the consequent ieing that the rough breeding ground ireVntigleo't'ed, 'and' places' worket are'easiest ca't'ght feryljftifltfa'ppjng' is' Wjfg' done ?ufl am miftosif- sbep fji jj lufflcient oarsfsnotexewi?^d i trap )eing set at the entrance of burrows i practise I believe most likely ti msura 'he deetvugtjoa of ■ferrets itoaWnd-weafielsj and cats, • l. ,,eri s alflo graaj laxitjr shown in rio laying burrows and watercourses ou )f "which' rabbits' have beea" taken tiled in', a'home being .left.' fori 1 thi iext rabbit that comes along to ente !n(o. " Or _oHp : i.,'pro|)er.ty .'yisitoi phe're tp« work' 'of destroy Ing^. bjjrrbwsAiand i jirjndjrgrpanji ivatgr' "courses' has" fen ' Syste maticly - w cavriod., pn,r the . beg results have been obtained, aid; thi pest much easier dealt with since, Oi ray previous ro'imd of. inspection;; noticed -.nufabeig: of; rabbits aboul particular underground , watercourses und.on .my.second,'visit about thi same number &e'j(p t]ferfc r at the sami places, evidently old rabbits? 1% minutes, labor' with a spade .woiik have assured ~the destruction of tbesi rabbits^'and'their'sfroiig'hold;' Bii as they are allowed r weel to stop tliWe,!'breed, and dodge iii-'h their place of safety l at the j)ret souti'i ofman'b'rdog, % oanript;urge".upoi landowners too strongly thenecessit' of destroying the burrows and under ground water courses, for on'ever l property tbere they ejtist there' 4'

rabbets •UmjWnm go, 1 tojgroallexpenso., to po||y/.M' entirely neglect phat, wbiolij i|||he natural, hartjpr defence vbfiihe rabbit. -1 am the rabbits 1 constantly -seen about water courses «re generally old and wary, veterans, who have run the gauntlet of poison traps and dogs, ;aud -.who !will <a> only sucoumb to the spade;' Iti'maybo argued that filling in theae .water couraea and burrows . will'" be

themeans of destroying^"immber of the natural,enemy, "i Th'eiansy«tf jto this isv that the rabbit and natural, ehemy" do; not inhabit as a rule the same 'dwelling place at the same time. The uilleniura has- not yet';.borne, -, the vstoat /and weasel do. hot lie ■ down "with/• the rabbit.' ; !■■■'; i .: ;V; ;

I am .informed that a number of settlers intend to shortly start forret breeding, but .find it very difficult to obtain .sufficient, numbers' 5 tV start with, I would therefore Bsk'.thj Boardito; take-slops.;it possible to obtain a supply for, |"djs(ribnt|onj. immediately, as the breeding season' is how coming ?n.MJ-if;. r ,! \ I would'auggeat' to su'eepownors the desirability: us far as possible of placing their ewes to lamb on country which is not the breeding ground ofj rabhiis,fop>i',notic6l that ewes are often put pa the Tory worst breeding places for rabbit, and the consequence is that little or no work of destruction' can bo carried on after poisoning in flis'mouthspf August, September, Ootober, the very are bree'ding most IraMyyjjlfilp'uld be hunted most 'peitoio'ti'tlytfi'/in conversing with the. rabbit question I find there is a desire that a conference should -i 6q. helc|» r BS' suggested, iii* my previous-' 4 'report,*' lo ! 'discus'3 ! '';'a'iid interchange, ideas as to the best'|means' to, combat' the! pesY. Itbink that good would: result, from such a Bt'ep, feeling that ; one)of the triie means of dealiug'with : the nuisance is for owners : to meet together, act in concert <rafar aapossilile/'h'eljj one discuss; the 'jvarious means of destroying r'abbitsj and act upon what i3C9nsidored the best and most eflbctive lines. - 'lf A has a run consisting of- rough country upon which rabbits have been 'ulimerpus;' and in every way suitable for ; " thbm, kecps.tbem B,'o'n country perhaps not. nenrly so: always badly infested, fit follows that A has solved the problem aud^B I 'has not, and has therefore •something 'to learn, and which would: probably : be' imparted to him if matters were Jdiscussed betweon-; thera..",4\Yhat t fJß requiredis to'' Arid out' %ti 'bwrier's 1 who deal most successfully with the peat,;do soj and, to induce other* to follow their example. I take it as part of my duty as Inspector to obtain and give this information, and I feel suro that muck assistance could be rendered by settlers often meeting and giving ono another advice and interchanging ideaß, I would therefore ask the Beard to call a meeting of tbe settlers at an early date;

I append hereto my diary showing particulars of each day's inspection since last meeting of the Beard. lam

. Thomas Maokay, \ Inspector. - Mr Maunsoll said he had come to the conclusion that they could not entirely suppress pack hunting, They had to be guided by circumstances. Tjiey 'should, .however, regulate tho jiaclfsand reduce them to a minimum. Ho l)ad no doubt traps could be set some little distance from tho inoutb9 of the burrows, without destroying many of the natural] enemy, '

Mr Moore said w|th regards picks of4ogs 4 it deuenile|uj)6b'the:;p{hi| of the iMidaU thaliargg packs were the best and'the dogs objected to by Mr Maunsell were to hw'mjndtfhebest. Iftheyregulated the Bizo.qf.tho packs they jroiild.take runho|ders by the ears, IJe agreed with what had been said about trapping, ...,.'... ■ ''■■' Mr ■ Maurisel) said heihaij pnly thrown.put his sqggestion for what it Was; worth, ~.,. , \.\

The Inspector said he had considered the question of dos[B for years. in rough countryehe found that large packsof dogs were useless. , Mr Maunsell said that quiet hunting waa.the> beat, He ; had a boy ten years of ago in hit employ who caught about twenty rabbits a day. Mr Mooro; I am sorry to hear that you have so many rabbits your way. ■

_ Mr Maunsell: We do not see them in crossing the property,

After considerable further discussion the report was adopted, THE NA|UBAI, ENKHV. Mj! Ifoore askpd'if aVr'angemonts had been ujade fqr further shipments of thp natural enemy. The Chairman repjiedthat arrange; inents had been made for the importation of consecutive shipments, amounting to £3OOO during the summer. No shipments would be made excepting in ships making Wellington the first port of call. The first shipment of 800 stoats and 50 weasels would arrivo in October, Thp hour of meeting was changed from 2,q0 p,m, The meeting then adjourned,