Page:Notes on New Zealand (1892).pdf/142

132 corners, surrounded, perhaps, by the sea on one side and a wire fence on the other; and, partly, because the efforts to exterminate them were begun before they had obtained such a hold on the country as they were allowed to obtain in Australia. Then, again, the laws concerning them are very strict in New Zealand, and the penalties severe, on account of which their depredations have not increased to any great extent of late years, though some land has been greatly reduced in value by their presence.

In those parts of the islands where rabbits exist or are even suspected of