THE RABBIT NUISANCE ACT.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXV, Issue 2852, 23 October 1890, Page 4

THE RABBIT NUISANCE ACT.

The Rabbit Act deals almost entirely with rabbits fences, their height, method of construction anil the law bearing on them. According to the Act a rabbit fence must not be less than 3ft from the ground, and the paliDgs must be sunk into the ground not less than Gin from the surface, with no greater distance between the palings than an inch. It may also be a post and two-rail fencp, having split or sawn timber placed perpendicularly, the same distance both over and below the surface of the ground as the other just described, and also no greater distance than liu between each piece of timber. Or a post-and-rail fence of some substantial material not less than 3ft in height from the ground ; or a substantial wire fence, the same height from the ground, with four wires tightly stretched, or three wires and a top rail, in either case with posts of durable wood or iron, not more than Oft apart, and having galvanised wire-netting not larger than one and five-eighth inches in the mesh, firmly attached or affixed thereto through out its entire length and height, and pegged or sunk into the ground nor. less than Gin as in thu other cases. There ure also other kinds of fences specified, but thcirgeneral outlines tally with those we have just Described. I has also been decided under the Act to form a Board of Rabbit Trustees " with perpetual succession and common seaV Rabbit proof fences erected under this Act also coine under the Fencing Acts, and those fences may be erected across roads ; and it will be one, at least, of the duties of the Board of Trustees just spoken of, to see that Crown lauds, country roads, and other places are fwnced and secured fiom the spread of the rabbit pest by the erection of properlyconstructed fences. The penalty, it may be remarked, for leaving open a swinggate in a rabbit prcof fence is ilo ; and any person who deliberately injures one of those fences by removing the wirenetting or otherwise ivill be lif.ble, on summary conviction before a resident magistrate or a couple of justices, to be imprisoned for a period not exceeding twelve months. A line of £50 or twelve mouths' inprisonmeut is the penalty stipulated for any person who is found with live rabbits in his possession, or who is known to have set them loose, or brim's them from one part of tho country to another. And the penalty for poisoning and removing rabbits from land without authority, or their skins, is the same. Tho Boards of Trustees are empowered to oppoint overseers, servants,'and others necessary for the effectual administration of the Act, ; but it will be administered by the Chief Rabbit Inspector) auil by thoso immediately under his control.