Clause 26. 



Sail it Hoard may supply netting, fyc. 



20. The Rabbit Board may purchase wire-netting and other materials required in the 

 construction of a rabbit-proof fence, and also any machinery, plant, or substances for the 

 destruction of rabbits ; and may enter into contracts for the sale or letting out thereof to the 

 owner of any private holding or lands for use within the Rabbit District upon such terms as may 

 be agreed upon in writing : Provided that where any sale or loan as aforesaid is made upon 

 terms one-fourth at least of the price shall be paid on delivery of the articles sold or lent, and 

 any money owing to the Board in respect of the sale or loan shall be a charge upon all the lands 

 within the district owned by the person to whom the sale or loan has been made, in priority to 

 any estate, right, title, or interest other than, the estate, right, title, aiid interest of the Crown. 



Mr. T. BROWN, M.L.A. (Budgerabong) , proposed that clause 20 be struck out, and that in place 

 of it the following clause he inserted, " That the Minister be empowered to purchase wire-netting and 

 other materials necessary for the construction of rabbit-proof fences ; also any machinery, plant, or 

 substance required in the destruction of rabbits ; and may contract to sell or let same to Rabbit Boards 

 or private holders upon the following terms : 



(<?) One-tenth of total cost, in the case of a sale, on application, and 5 per cent, on total cost, there- 

 after to be apportioned as follows : 4 per cent, interest, and remainder to be placed to a sinking 

 fund for the purpose of discharging indebtedness to State by a system of deferred payments. 



(5) The value of the netting thus provided be secured to the Minister by a first mortgage on the 



land so protected. 



(c) The netting to be erected within twelve months after delivery has been taken. 

 ((/) The Minister to have discretionary powers as to how such advances are to be made. 



(e) The letting of any machinery, &c., to be a matter of agreement between the Minister and 

 parties interested." 



He thought the Minister should have the power to raise money for letting out wire-netting. He did not 

 hold very strong views on the terms on which it should be let out. He simply desired that those terms 

 should be as liberal as possible, so that those interested might take advantage of it. He was only desirous 

 of having the principle affirmed and was quite prepared to accept an amendment. The stand he took 

 was, lhat to cope with the rabbit pest, particularly in the more scattered districts, and where 

 the pest was now growing and becoming a menace to the settled districts, wire-netting should be 

 used, and while barrier-fences afforded a certain amount of protection it was by no means 

 sufficient, and the smaller the areas the greater the protection and the nearer they came to 

 getting rid of this plague. In the western part of the Central Division, where the rabbits 

 were the most prevalent at the present time, there were numbers of small holders holding from 

 10.000 acres to 2,500 acres, and these men were settled down in the midst of vast areas of abandoned 

 Crown lands, and their only hope under any legislation was to fence in their holdings and to 

 kill the rabbits within those holdings. At the present time they were trying to keep the rabbits down 

 by killing, but they were not killing the rabbits that were bred within their own holdings, but the rabbits 

 that came upon their lands from the abandoned areas around. Now, if they could assist those men to 

 fight the rabbits on the small areas, and gradually work on by extending the fences they would gradually 

 get the rabbits under. Some men fence in the holding with netting, and they were in a very different 

 position to those who were not able to do it. There was an instance in the Melrose district. There were 

 a number of 2,500 acre block men in a vast area of abandoned country, some of it practically abandoned 

 to the rabbit and wallaby pest. The men ought to have been enabled to enclose their holdings. There 

 was a selector out there who held second rate land, but, by enclosing, he has been able to carry ninety per 

 cent, of fat sheep to send to market, and the surrounding men on the same area were only able to carry 

 five to seven hundred sheep instead of two thousand, and their holdings were becoming worse and worse, 

 as their feeding grounds were depleted by the millions of rabbits that crowded in from the surrounding 

 lands. These men were not able to get this netting on easy terms, and if they passed this measure they 

 would go a long way towards solving the rabbit problem. 



Mr. LITTLE (Bullock Creek, N.) seconded the motion. He would like to point out that they also 

 expected to be able to cope with the wallabies, as their country was infested from the Parkes district, and 

 was completely eaten out by them. From a small portion of 100 acres they had taken over 1,000 

 wallabies. The whole country w r as taken possession of, and they had increased in such numbers that it 

 was impossible to get rid of them. There only hope of contending with them was by getting wire-netting 

 on easy terms from the Government. 



Mr. GIBSOTT (Hay) said that this matter was one he was asked to bring before the conference, if 

 it had not been brought forward by anybody else. There were a large number of men in his district in 

 the neighbourhood of abandoned country, badly infested, and it was all very well for them as a Conference 

 to propose Rabbit Boards, and to propose modes of assessment, but the best thing to do was to try to 

 keep the people on the land. They should assist the people who took up these lands prior to rabbit 

 legislation, who were receiving no benefits from any re-appraisements which were now taking place, in 

 which the devastations caused by the rabbits were a factor, and the men were paying higher rates than 

 the lands were now worth. These men have sunk their all on their property, and they were just struggling 

 on from day to day in the hope of some concession being granted, such as the mover of the resolution had 

 shadowed forth. If they gave these men wire-netting they would ask nothing more. They would be 

 quite satisfied that it should be made a charge on the land, they did not ask for a free gift of the netting. 

 They would be able to pay it back by instalments, and as the Crown was the landlord, he certainly thought 

 it would be an advantage to the Crown that their lauds should remain in a good tenants hands. If the 

 men who had sunk all their money on these properties had to go under, who was going to take their place 

 except under very great concessions. The best concession, and he thought the only concession that could 

 be given to a lot of holders, to large as well as small holders, was that the Government should find the 

 netting, and let them have it on easy terms. 



Mr, 



