H.—lo.

10

AREA OF SOUTHLAND HUNDREDS. —To 26th April, 1876.

Enclosure 2 in No. 1. The Chief Secretary, Victoria, to His Honor the Superintendest, Otago. Snt,— Chief Secretary's Office, Melbourne, 31st March, 1876. In reply to your letter of the Bth instant, asking for information on certain points as to the extent to which the rabbit nuisance prevails in this colony, and whether any steps have been taken to avert it, I have the honor to enclose herewith a copy of a report on the subject which has been furnished by the. Secretary to the Department of Agriculture. No steps of a public nature have yet been taken to avert the nuisance referred to, but large sums have been expended by private individuals in endeavouring to extirpate the rabbits, and in some cases, as the enclosed report will show, with success. I have, &c, His Honor the Superintendent of Otago, New Zealand. Johx MacPhebson. Sub-Enclosure to Enclosure 2 in No. 1. Report furnished by the Secretary to the Department of Agriculture, Victoria, in answer to the following questions:— 1. If the rabbit nuisance prevails in Victoria, to what extent and when it commenced. 2. If any public or private steps to avert it have been taken, and with what effect. 3. "What were the means adopted, and, if of a public nature, how the expense was provided for. 1. It prevails to a considerable extent in some districts, more particularly on the stations to the west and north-west of Geelong. The nuisance has prevailed more or less from the day that the rabbit was first introduced by the late Mr. Thomas Austin, of Barwon Park, Winchelsea, about thirty miles west of Geelong ; from which place as a centre, the nuisance spread until now there is hardly a part of Victoria where the rabbit is not to be found. 2. lam not aware of any public steps having been taken to avert the evil: privately much has been done to avert it, with varied results. 3. Various means have been adopted to keep down the nuisance, but the rabbit breeds so rapidly in this country that the ordinary methods of shooting, ferreting, and trapping, usually adopted in the Old Country, have been found of little or no avail in this. Of all who have had to contend with the rabbit nuisance in Victoria, the Robertson Brothers, of Colac, have, I believe, been the most successful in battling with it. They tried the methods above alluded to, but without any apparent good results. The rabbits had taken possession of the wombat holes that existed in such great numbers on that portion of their run which abuts upon the WarrioD Hill, and lived there in communities, not in families merely. After some consideration, the Robertsons decided that the only plan would be to fill up the holes with boulders of basalt: they did so, but the rabbits burrowed out ac the sides and were soon as troublesome as ever, and they were compelled eventually to dig away the soil to the basaltic rock that underlays it, and build in the rabbits with solid masonry. It was not until they did this that they were able to rid themselves of the nuisance. Mr. George Robertson has assured me that the rabbits rendered 10,000 acres of their run valueless, as neither cattle nor sheep would graze where the rabbits were so numerous; and further that it took them seven years to free themselves of the nuisance, during which time they expended £35,000 upon the undertaking.

Hundred. . 1 F- :! . Sold. Balance for Sale. nvercargill facob's River River ... 3ampbelltown )teramika ... kfataura Mabel ftHnton jotliian kVaimumu ... jindhurst ... ?oresthill ... )reti t' ' " A. E. P. 89,272 3 36 92,214 3 36 84,340 1 13 60,510 1 17 91,658 2 31 12,185 2 IS 46,576 0 30 28.450 0 14 41,994 0 21 25,868 2 3 61,568 0 0 51,834 0 28 77,380 1 14 68,243 2 19 A. It. P. 86,740 1 25 89,401 1 15 77,201 2 20 30,293 2 2-5 54,019 0 17 11,094 2 18 46,576 0 30 25,360 1 21 41,671 1 2t 21,290 3 21 45,859 2 I 30,184 3 12 56,313 1 14 46,123 2 19 A. B. P. 2,532 2 11 2,810 2 21 7,048 2 33 30,216 2 32 37,639 1 14 1,091 0 0 0 0 0 3,089 3 33 322 2 37 4,577 2 22 15,708 1 39 21,619 2 16 21,067 0 0 22.120 0 0 Totals 832,098 1 0 662,223 3 22 169,874 1 18