79 



Mr. STEVENSON said he had no intention of detaining them very long. He came there merely by 

 direction of the Board for Exports, and with the consent of the Minister for Mines, to explain to them on 

 what lines the Board for Exports intended dealing with the rabbits and hares of the Colony. Although 

 the rabbits were under the Lands Department, the hares were under the Department of Mines. He 

 supposed that if they had arrived at .1 cross-breed it would have to be administered by a third department. 

 The Board for Exports had made certain arrangements, based to a certain extent on the lines adopted in 

 Victoria. About two years ago, when Victoria first took up the export of hares and rabbits, more par- 

 ticularly the latter, they sent a few hundreds of carcases just as an experiment. It was with great difficulty 

 that the merchants were got to take it up. Last year they sent 1,318,000 carcases to London, besides 

 about 60 per cent, more, rejects ; altogether more than 2f millions of rabbits were destroyed last year 

 under those arrangements. In January this year they sent 183,000 carcases to London, bringing back a 

 total return of about 7,250. That was instead of having the pest destroyed by letting the carcases lie 

 on the ground, they were making a commercial article of them. It was proposed to do the same in. New 

 South Wales. The Board for Exports had made arrangements for cold storage, and had imported an 

 expert from Victoria to manage the business. The proposal was that the Board for Exports would arrange 

 for refrigerating chambers built in Sydney, that local refrigerating stores should be constructed in the 

 country, and cool trucks provided on the railways. The country produce would be brought to Sydney, 

 stowed in the freezing chamber, and packed and exported by the Board. The Board for Exports would 

 find all cases, and the cost of these would be included in the charges. The conditions were that the 

 rabbits should be trapped or snared, killed, gutted, and bled, and the liver and kidneys must be left in the 

 carcase. Care must be taken to keep the furs clean, and this could be done by hanging them over rails 

 in pairs. Cases with a rail from end to end, and holding from fifteen to twenty pairs, were the best for 

 this purpose. The carcases, immediately on being killed, were to bo forwarded to the Export Depot by a 

 quick train. The Government expert would receive, grade, pack, and brand them, and the charge for 

 handling, free/ing, and shipping would be IJd. per pair, cases included. All sweated, damaged, or 

 unsightly carcases would be rejected, and must be immediately removed by the owner or his agent. The 

 railway rates for hares and rabbits, in not less than 5 cwt. lots, delivered to the Government Export Depot 

 in Darling Harbour, would be: 



S. ll. 8. d. 



Fp to 50 miles ... G per ton. Up to 200 miles ... IS 8 per ton. 



75 ... 86,, 225 ... 20 



100 ... 10 10 250 ... 21 5 



125 ... 12 11 300 ... 24 2 



., 150 ... 15 350 ... 26 11 



175 ... 16 10 400 ... 29 6 



IT might be roughly argued that a ton of railway freight would represent about 140 pairs of hares 

 or 340 pairs of rabbits. That was the position up to the present, and the Minister had arranged that he 

 would go with the expert and Mr. Stevenson, and meetings would be held in the country to speak on this 

 question, and to discuss the matter fully there. A meeting would be held in Bathurst on the following 

 Monday, and in other towns at later dates. Information that might be sent to the Board would be 

 received and carefully attended to. They had all preparations made, and they had no doubt that within 

 a few years they would be able to say that scarcely a rabbit could be seen near a railway line where it 

 could be got to the market. 



Mr. CAMEUON (Ivanhoe) said that he had listened to Mr. Stevenson's remarks with pleasure, but he 

 considered that the rabbits in New South Wales, or in any part of Australia, should not in any way be regarded 

 as a subject for commercial enterprise. To him the rabbit was a scourge that they ought to stamp out by 

 every means that lay in their power. There was no doubt that all those living within the vicinity of 

 railway lines, or even within 20 miles of them, would benefit very much by this, but those portions of the 

 Colony were insignificant in comparison with the large area which was overspread with rabbits, and he did 

 not think that the Conference should recommend anything of that sort. Let them treat the rabbits as 

 their worst enemy, and let them form no portion of any scheme of commercial enterprise in this Colony. 



The Honorable EUPKRT CABINGTON (Jerilderie) would cordially support the remarks made by 

 Mr. Cameron. He would go even further ; he would give any man six months who froze rabbits for 

 export. He would move a resolution, " That it is inadvisable that rabbits should be made an article of 

 export." 



Mr. CAMEBON (Ivanhoe) seconded the Honorable E. Carington's motion. 



Mr. Eoss (Hume) said he felt, like the Honorable Eupert Carington, very strongly on this matter. 

 He thought the Conference last year had passed a similar resolution. The exportation of rabbits was a 

 thing that should not be encouraged. It would be all very well where there were railways and where 

 the rabbits were not too thick, but where the rabbits were numerous they were not fit for export. And 

 if they were to encourage the export of rabbits to send them home it would simply be to encourage 

 the breeding of rabbits. Of course, they knew that where those rabbits were caught, and sent home, was 

 where the country was good and the rabbits not so thick. He thought they ought not to encourage this 

 in any shape or form ; for wherever a rabbit factory was established, the rabbits would simply increase 

 rapidly The Gove nment should let the matter alone. 



Mr. SIDES ( Hay ) said he did not think the Conference came here to make rabbits a commercial 

 commodity. They had come here to devise some means to destroy their worst enemy. It was beyond 

 question that they were their enemy, and if rabbits were to be cultivated, they might as well stop 

 breeding sheep ; because, if rabbits were exported and put 011 the market in London, their sheep would 

 come down in value terribly as the meat supply would bo so much increased. He thought they should 

 put their faces totally against cultivating rabbits in this way. 



Mr. WILKES (Broken Hill) said that the best argument with regard to thifi was given to the 



rabbits 



