167 RANGERS REPORT 1 CASE IN 20 YEARS!

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 14, Issue 31, 29 August 1949, Page 5

167 RANGERS REPORT 1 CASE IN 20 YEARS!

At a recent meeting of the Whakatane County Rod and Gun Club a letter from the Conservator of Wild Life was received in answer to a letter sent by the Club in Deoember last concerning the appointment of Honorary Rangers. The Conservator stated that -when he had taken over the district some two years ago he found that there were 167 honorary rangers within the Rotorua fishing district as well as the Rotorua Acclimatisation District, and of this vast number one only had actually reported a case during the past 20 years. He further stated that this surely was sufficient proof that such appointments were not justified. The president of the Club, Mr J. D. Rivett, pointed out that although the honprary rangers did not seem to have been active as regards catching wrongdoers there were other ways in which they could justify their appointments. One was in the breeding of pheasants from eggs supplied free by the Department of Internal Affairs, with the proviso that the birds reared be sold back to the Department. Another was with the bonus of 1/per snout now being offered by the Government for hedgehogs and bounties for other vermin. Here was the added incentive of profit as well as valuable service in helping to conserve wild game for the future.