u6 



J he Review of Reviews, 



February 10, 1906. 



THE RABBIT PEST. 

 The proposal to Invite Dr. Danysz, of the Pasteur Insti- 

 tute, to come out and organise his measures of extermi- 

 nation by spreading contagious disease amongst the 

 rabbits, may be regarded as practically certain to be 

 adopted. It will have to be determined whether the germ 

 used In the extermination of the rabbits Is, under the 

 climatic conditions existing in Australia, fatal to other 

 animals or to human beings. This, of course, Is vital to 

 the success of the proposed tests.— Dally paper. 

 Dr. Danysz : " Now, then, vlll someone sooply me wlz 

 some human beings to experiment wlz?" (Doubtless 

 the names of many who can be spared for the purpose 

 will occur to our readers.) 



THf \ 



iSEUtTciRj 



¥ 



«— 



I' 



Bulletin.'] 



The The rabbit occupies such a large 



Extermination position in Australian life, and man- 



of the ages to make it so undesirable for 



Rabbit. a i ar g e section of the community, 



although he is such a source of profit in other ways, 



that steps are being taken on a large scale to banish 



him from the face of Australia. It is likely that 



arrangements will be made with Dr. Danysz, of the 



Happy New 

 Year! 



Government. 



Pasteur Institute, to come to Australia to try to ex- 

 terminate bunny by spreading contagious disease 

 amongst his tribe. Something like ^8000 will be 

 required for the experiment, but promised subscrip- 

 tions already reach a sum larger than that. Of 

 course one very important question which will have 

 to be decided, and that has been raised bv Dr. 

 Danysz himself, is whether the germ which will be 

 used to exterminate the rabbit will, under Australian 

 conditions, be fatal to animals or to human beings. 

 If the negotiations come to a successful issue, the 

 experiment will be carried out on Broughton Island. 

 This will be the first reallv comprehensive effort that 

 has been made to exterminate the rabbit, although 

 there are numerous other proposals advanced by 

 enthusiasts. One gentleman in particular states that 

 his plan is eminently successful on his own pro- 

 perty, and that the extermination of the rabbit could 

 be easily accomplished if his method of killing the 

 females that are trapped and preserving the males 

 was universally carried out. 



London, Jan. 1st, 1906. By W. T. Stead. 



It is sixteen years since I published 

 the first number of " The Review of 

 Reviews." Thirteen of those years 

 have been passed under Unionist 

 We seem to be beginning a new spell 

 of Liberal rule. It is about time that the party of 

 Progress had an opportunity of directing the affairs 

 of the Empire. In the sixteen years that have 

 passed since first I came into living touch with my 

 readers two events stand out conspicuous over all 

 the rest. The first was the Hague Conference, with 

 which the nineteenth century closed, the other 

 the South African and Japanese Wars, with which 

 the new century opened. It is some consolation to 

 me, and I hope to my readers, to recall the fact that 

 although only a monthly publication, " The Review of 

 Reviews " was admittedly more potent than any 

 other journal, magazine, or review in contributing 

 to the success of the Hague Conference. It is 

 hardly less consolatory to remember that " The Re- 

 view of Reviews " was as conspicuous in the long, 

 arduous, and, unfortunately, unsuccessful struggle 

 first to avert and then to stop the South African 

 War. That struggle, in which it was our proud 

 privilege to bear a part, may save the Empire in 

 South Africa yet. But for the pro-Boers and their 

 fidelity at all costs to the cause of liberty, justice, 

 and self-government, the disappearance of the Union 

 Jack from South Africa would be a matter of very 

 few years. As it is we have still a chance that the 

 majority of the white population in South Africa 

 may decide that a Liberal Empire is not incom- 

 patible with Liberty, and that their nationality is as- 

 safe under the Union Jack as is the nationality of 

 the French Canadians. 



