before or less infested with rabbits; and those portions which we have not visited, such as the Doine, Longridge, and the plains watered by the Five Rivers, which may be embraced in the eastern and centre districts, we have received such reliable information concerning as fully to satisfy us of their condition. We have placed ourselves in communication with all persons, whatever their vocation, from whom it was likely that we should be able to gather authentic data, and we have been much indebted to the pastoral tenants of the Crown for the fullness and confidence of their communications. We should be doing an injustice to some of these gentlemen were we to indicate with any precision the localities most severely affected, nor would any good to the community result from such definition. We have, therefore, deemed it judicious, for the purposes of this report, to divide the country into large areas, and of these it may be sufficient to say that the western and northern portion of the eastern and central districts are most severely affected.

DIVISION OF REPORT.

It will perhaps be more convenient for purposes of reference that the report should be divided in several distinct branches, viz.:

I. The first appearance of the rabbits in Southland and their progress through the country.

II. The extent of country occupied by them, and the evils which accompany this occupation.

III. The peculiar difficulties which attend the attempt to arrest or exterminate them.

IV. The nature of the methods now in operation and the apparent results.

V. The means adopted elsewhere, and the results.

VI. The suggestions which have been made to us towards arresting the evil.

I. FIRST APPEARANCE OF RABBIT.

I. So far as we have been able to learn the rabbit made its first appearance about twelve years since among the sandhills in the neighbourhood of Invercargill, on the tract of country immediately contiguous to the sea, on the Riverton Beach Road, which tract was at that time a finely-grassed and valuable sheep country. Here they appear to have remained for several years quietly, and at first almost insensibly, disturbing the soil, until from the increase of their numbers they not only destroyed the whole of the grass but converted the rolling sward into exposed, shifting, and barren sandhills. From time to time the settlers, in more remote parts of the country, entrapped and carried with them a few pairs of rabbits to their several localities, considering their presence a desirable acquisition, and thus multiplied the centres of propagation. The main body of the rabbits having laid waste the country where they first appeared, moved up the banks of rivers and their tributary streams, camping, as it were, on rich, well-grassed lands, and only passing onwards when the pasture became scanty and the land defiled and poisoned. Gradually, and at first scarcely perceptibly, the rabbits moved from place to place, until during the last two years there appears to have been a vast impulse given to their migration, so that at length their presence has become a subject of bitter regret, and the cause of much and increasing anxiety. They may be found swarming in suitable places on the banks of rivers, creating havoc on the sunny, grassy uplands, surmounting the highest ranges, and, in smaller numbers, their pioneers have been seen on the banks of the Greenstone River, beyond Lake Wakatipu, on their way to the West Coast. We have found them in great numbers on one side of a river, while the other side was comparatively free from them, for though they follow up the main stream, as a general rule, and turn the head waters, still there are many known instances which indicate that they transfer their ravages from one side to another with great suddenness and rapidity. They chiefly dwell on the banks of rivers and creeks, the outskirts of forests, and the neighbourhood of Rocky Ranges, whence they can descend into the uplands and grassy plains, from which they return, when disturbed, to their places of refuge.

EXTENT OF COUNTRY AFFECTED BY THEM AND THE EVILS ATTENDING THEIR OCCUPATION.

II. With respect to the extent of country occupied by the rabbits, and the evils which accompany their occupation, we may safely say that, so far as our personal observation has extended, the whole of Southland may be regarded as more or less infested. Where the country is favourable for their occupation, that is—well grassed, well sheltered, and not cold nor damp, there rabbits may be seen in vast numbers; while, in the open country, where means are constantly and effectively used to exterminate them, they are kept within moderate bounds. But what may be a true description of the state of any part of the country this year may not be so a year or two hence. In the neighbourhood of Riverton Beach, for instance, rabbits are less numerous than they were; while, in places where only a few were seen a short time back, as in the Dunstan District, they may now be seen in vast numbers. Again, in the Marewhenua country, in the north of Otago, where they have been known to have existed for thirteen years, they have not increased, while in the Tapanui country they are represented to be alarmingly numerous. It is very evident that the stream of migration from the South is being met by a similar stream from the North.

EXPENSE ATTENDING DESTRUCTION.

The evils which result from the occupation of the country by rabbits in considerable numbers are many and varied. It will, perhaps, suffice that we should state some of the chief of them. The expense of exterminating the rabbit is becoming a very serious item. Take, for instance, a run where three years since scarcely a rabbit was to be seen: there are now sixteen men with one hundred and twenty dogs employed, costing the lessee twopence for each rabbit skin and ten shillings a week for each man. On this run the average number of rabbits killed weekly is between four and five thousand, and though thirty-six thousand were killed last year yet the report is that there is no appreciable decrease. On another run we learn that close on sixteen thousand rabbits were killed during the first three months of the present year at a cost of twopence a skin. On a third the expense each week averages £27, and fifty thousand rabbits had been killed since last year. On a fourth we find nine men employed with sixty dogs, killing at the rate of two thousand per week. This enumeration might be almost indefinitely extended. It only remains to state that in some cases as much as threepence a skin is paid, and even a horse and provisions are found; in others powder and shot, averaging twopence per charge, are given in addition to twopence per skin. It is to be remembered, also, that in some instances the dogs are fed on sharps, and occasionally on mutton, as, it is said, feeding on rabbits is apt to give distemper, and owing to the demand, the price of dogs has risen varying from five to fifteen pounds each. It is generally considered that seventy to one hundred rabbits a day may be reckoned a fair average supposing the man to be well supplied with ammunition and dogs, which in most cases are provided by the runholder. So far as any return may be calculated on from the sale of skins it may be said that the winter skins only are of any value, and that experiments connected with the sale have