House sparrows were introduced to New Zealand in 1866. But by 1878, only 12 years later, the Otago Witness was reporting a meeting in Kaiapoi to deal with the sparrow pest. By then sparrows were having a serious effect on grain crops and farmers, as this account suggests, were resorting to radical measures.
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
National Library of New Zealand, Papers Past
Reference:
Otago Witness, 22 June 1878, p. 3
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