The Cecil Whig. [volume] (Elkton, Md.) 1841-current, 1896-06-20

Long Enormous Cost of Fighting the
Representations Have Been Slaughtered
but Numbers Continue to Increase.
Then the New South Wales govern
ment, it will be remembered, offered a
reward Of G25, 600 to any person OF per-
sons who could suggest q really efficient
method Of getting rid Of the pest; but,
although this liberal offer led to the re-
ceipt of no fewer than 1000 schemes
from all parts Df the world, none Of
them was regarded as satisfactory, and
the offer was withdrawn. The domestic
cat was introduced and III certain linz
tied areas did much service Poisons
were largely resorted to, and fe,rets,
stoats and wcasels have been imported
i'll thousands into somc of the colonies
and have increased fast. But hitherto
the rabbits, owing to the rate at which
they multiply, have managed not only
to hold their own, but to constantly
spread over new ground, carrying de-
struction with them wherever they sc.
In South Australia, for instance, the
direct loss from the rabbits has been PIT
down ut $3.50, 600 per annum and the
indirect loss at similar amount. In
Victoria the active operations for the
destruction of rabbits on crown lands
have been carried on by the government
since 1880, and from that date to the
middle of 1894 Il total of nearly $780,
900 had been spent by the state on that
object. AS for the money spent by pri-
waite individuals for the same purpose,
that is almost incalculablc, but it may
be mentioned that on one estate alone
upward of e15, 600 have been expended
by the owner, with the view Of clearing
his land of the pest.
In the II years ending with 1898
nearly 6S, 600, 900 rabbit skins, valued
at f402, 600, were exported from Vic
toria, without counting the large guam
titles used by hat manufacturers i'll tho
colony, one establishment alone using
314, 400 every year. Yet, notwithStand-
ing all this slaughter, the present il
tested area throughout the colony is CS-
| tiuatcd by the chief inspector at no lc@a
than 81, 80, coo acres. Adding to tn
| direct expenditure the dcprCciatiOns {.
| the grazing values Of the land, the lcs1
to the colonies concerned amount to
millions Of pounds sterling.
Tho final outcome of royal commits
stems, Cf international conferences al
Ct the testing Of every practical mcthcd
Of determination, is that the most ct4Cc-
tual method Of dealing with the evil is
found to be the construction f rabbit
proof netting, by means Of which The
| animals can be kept from areas not yet
infested, can be shut of from food sup
plies, and can be more effcctually dealt
with locally.
The length Of some Cf the Sc fences is
enormous. There is one startingat Bar
ringun, on the Queensland border, and
following tn" Liain trunk line fr,-l
Bourke tC CcrCwa, Il distance Of 407
miles, and there is another ulcng the
entire western boundary Of New South
Wales. Il distance Of 34G miles. The
Queensland government too, has erect
cd IL similar fence along considerable
portion of the northern boundary of
New South Wales, but the surveyor
general Cf Queer land, in the report al
ready referred to. says that the rabbits
must have come through the fence III
moLs and Groves Of imlum rablc multi
tudcs ut some time, and thus have es-
t@blished themselves i'll Queensland as
Wei.
This, OF course, is the weak point III
regard to fences, which are liable to
break down ii places, more especially
in times # flood and where they cross
over creeks, while the keeping Of con-
slant supervision over the fences, so that
Immediate repairs can be done where
openings appear, is quite impracticable
where the distances are 50 great. In
many instances countless thousands CT
rabbits have been seen ON one side of a
fence dead or dying of starvation after
eating all the available food supplies
and lcaping up at the fence in their at
tempts to surmount it. One can imagine
how they would rush through i'll the
event of any opening appearing and
how single break in the fence might
be the doom of country not previous
ly infested.
There have been many projects for the
commercial utilization of the animals by
StuulUS tHSlu ONtr mere III O4utT 10 COLI
tribute both to cur food supplies and to
the cost of their own destruction, but
hitherto the enterprise has not been very
profitable, while some of the most COM
petent authorities in the colonies think
that if it should be followed up the re-
suit may be to conserve the rabbits in
stead of getting rid of them. On the
cthnr hand thn c1i,,,i,,f, rf
hundreds Of thousands, or even mil
lion or two, of rabbits to Great Britain
every year would not be likely to make
any appreciable difference on the num-
bers left behind to constitute what it is
feared must be regarded as Il pest now al
together ineradicable. London Times
His Liberal Reward.
The champion mean man up town
seems to be young man who recently