THE RABBIT CASES AT TE AWAMUTU.

Waikato Times, Volume XXX, Issue 2475, 22 May 1888, Page 2

THE RABBIT CASES AT TE AWAMUTU.

"The rigour of the law is the height of oppression." So runs the old Latin proverb. It is fully exemplified almost daily in these modern times. We have a sample of it in the working of the "Rabbit Nuisance Act" in Waikato. A few years ago before the Act came into operation in this district rabbits were far more numerous than they are now, or have been at. any time since it came into force, but the authorities in the plentitude of their wisdom consider that if the inspectors do not lay infor mations occasionally against the unhappy farmers they are not doing their duty, and the Inspector-in-Chief, to keep his lucrative appointment, goes round the district, sees a few hundred rabbits in one small corner of it and sends in a report that the country is infested with the " pest." He then, 110 doubt, bullies the unfortunate district Inspector into bringing a few cases bethe Court to show his zeal for the service. Last Court day four settlers were prosecuted for not clearing their farms of rabbits, thus involving them in considerable expense and trouble, for owing to a native ease which dragged out wearily for two days and a-half, and then had to be adjourned, the defendants in the rabbit case had to be in attendance with their witnesses, who will have to be paid by the defendants, for even if they gain their case the chances are that costs will not be allowed against the Government. On three of the farms rabbits were far more numerous eight years ago than they are now, and the influx on the fourth is due in a great measure to neighbours burning off, thus driving the rabbits on to it, so that the owner has had to kill his neighbours' rabbits as well as his own. Furthermore, the Crown Lauds and reserves adjoining another farm are, as one defendant said, breeding grounds from which the rabbits spread on to other lands, and it is manifestly unjust that men should be punished while such breeding grounds exist. If they are likely to become a pest, how is it that the area infested by them has very considerably decreased instead of increased in size ? Such decrease is not due to the fact of the Act having been brought into operation, for it was never enforced on farms that had a considerable number on them at one time, but are now clear. As a matter of fact, if rabbits increase so as to become destructive, settlers in self-defence will organize shooting parties for their destruction. Such parties have been organized, and the rabbits got such a check, that they did not multiply sufficiently to do any serious harm. In a district like this which is composed of comparatively small farms, small at any rate, compai'cd with the Southern districts of big runs, they are never likely to become the nuisance they are in such places, and as population increases so will the rabbits decrease, If the big estates were turned into small farms the " Act" would soon be unnecessary. There are some districts where all the efforts of the settlers cannot keep them down, and where nothing short of Pasteur's method—if as successful as it is claimed to be—will have any effect. These are districts where there is extensive bush cover, and where the farms adjoin the heavily timbered ranges. Such a place is part of the Wairarapa Valley, where the rabbits exist in millions, and where they are a real plague, but as we have no such cover in Waikato we will never be overrun by them. In such a district as this "the rigour of the law becomes the height of oppression." No one would find fault with the Act, or its enforcement if some system were observed in those places which are more or less infected. A stated time should be appointed and all those who have infected farms should be compelled to kill simultaneously. It is nonsense for two or three, or even half-a-dozen men to set to work while the Crown Lands, reserves and other farms are left untouched. If the imaginary pest is to be put down, let all be made to do it at the same time, and • there will soon be no necessity for having inspectors. These officials, in bringing these charges, are only doiug their duty —a very unpleasant one, no doubt, but still their duty. They may state in their reports that in their opinion the rabbits are not likely to become a plague here, but if an official who knows the southern districts, and the pest they are there, and who is unacquainted with the facts of the case here, comes up and sees a few hundred in a day's ride, he imagines that they will increase and multiply and over-run the place, as they do elsewhere, so he takes measures to have them killed off on a few farms at a time. This serves the- purpose of showing the Government that he is doing his duty, and does not do away with the rabbits too quickly, and so the necessity for retaining Inspectors is kept up. There was a ludicrous, or perhaps more correctly speaking, a pathetic side to the prosecutions the other day. The Inspector must have been reading the parable of the rich man who gave a feast, and when the in-

vited guests began to make excuse, sent out and brought from ' : the by-ways the maimed, the halt, and the,blind. One of the defendants passed' the "alloted span" of human life many years ago, another must have reached, if not passed it, aud another is slowly recovering from a painful illness which necessitated a long period of enforced idleness ; yet these men were expected to give personal attendance to the business of destroying the rabbits on their farms, for it is only by personal- supervision that , any work can be -efficiently carried out. It is well-known that there are many other farmers ; who do not labour under any such disabilities, who have as many rabbits on their farm, and who were not prosecuted. Why were not informations laid against them ? It is ridiculous to keep Inspectors if the four farms which were the subject of the cases are the only infected ones in the .. country, aud on the other hand }it is grossly unfair to those four to be selected for punishment a3 a sort of frightful example. It would be better to abandon the attempt to work the Act than work it in a partial manner, either prosecute all or noiie. Tho whole affair is a wretched farce. The spectacle of aged men dancing attendance on the Court, at an hour and in weather when for the good of their health they should be comfortably seated by their fireside is not a pleasant one. There was also a lot of very unnecessary deliy in adjourning tlie ease from day to day, the native case might well have been adjourned for a few hours tho lirst'day to lot the rabbit cases be heard. Time is 110 object with Maoris, aud none of them were in that condition that late hours or bad weather would be likely to do them any harm, From first to last the matter was ridiculous in the extremo.