LAW OF TRESPASS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19957, 18 June 1930, Page 9

LAW OF TRESPASS.

SPORTSMEN'S RIGHTS. r0 grnOx\ IN CANTERBURY. Ms rigWs of sportsmen in Canter*®#re indissoluble linked with the *"J m - of land tenure. Even then they easily defined and the sports- *** ffltuj6 usually find out for himself J, e may go and where he may . risk of being a trespasser. rLg fisherman, however, generally • H*2 Is better off than the shooter places, he is on public prozlit* when he ranges up and down the K* of * river. Generally, when the .Snal surveys were made, there was or a chain left on either jAiof the rivers as a public road and 7° though usually never dedicated, except where the river has ***H'a banks with the result that declared a road is now in the gome instances, these areas Jot not left, and the owner of the wj adjacent may claim proprietorship Sht to the bank of the river. More--5 if tho river by degrees changes JtoWttrae his riparian rights extend to lis tew bank. private Property, ffegre is adequate protection against fmpass on private property. Here the hag no rights, though he may im privileges. He owner or lessor after having Una notice may prosecute anyone' who buouees thereon. Tho notice "Tres.JSitM with dog or gun will be- proseptel? i* a common one. Crown Lands. Tbsrights of the sportsman on Crows £m£o are much more in his favour, jjflgb these have been encroached upon eiQl the passage of years. Mr W. Stewart, Commissioner of grown Lands, explained yesterday that fctb* old days, nearly all the high nantry in Canterbury had been leased M ptstoral rims. The .position then was Iht the holder of a deer-stalMng IwaM eould shoot over these runs by yygggestent with the Acclimatisation geetoqr. * By degrees, however, these ]md had become virtually leases in ■gpetaity and the holders of them UnßSoent leaseholders. Ob Crown reserves and what were IbOVB as "waste Crown lauds" Mr Hewart elaimed. that adequate . pro* was made for tho protection of ft* shooter. Lake Ellesmere came in #k category and Mr Stewart remarked Ct J£r Charles Clark was wrong in statement at a meeting of the coun- ' ID of the North Canterbury AcclimjaiEstioß Society, last week tbat the Land Board was alienating the rights of the: rfwoter. On the contrary, it 'had been fee policy of the Board to work in with fee Aeelimatiitttion Society in order to jnteet these rights. A Saving Clause. speaking in the lease of Crcpvn lands there was a clause ■Msg the shooter the right of access. , Jp:«f these leases was granted for

'|M(t than five years, and the lease arid be and in fact was cancelled oa yfttte aa a month's notice if any eomfijade against the lessor was suiJesses had to be cancelled property was not being kept Wafer. However, the right to shoot was not affected by a jlPs Bivarßedsk ! J|Hgffi«»ies; For example, the eon■aßjiftfle Waimakariri bed is. vestal ' vpjHmr Trust, which JMpt to;shooters WPMerstood. Bat - a aftw -jfljfpfcares has been' leaeed,and. there la the leases giving freejMiilrflaecess. so it. would' seem that -Mftt sportsman's rights hare' beTho'bed oftheAahley the Ashley ;Biver Tnwi position there is believed to be ,;jp»iu..-in sil eases thedifTerence jMpypMsesslng rights and exercising JsKpiMMis "the position. There are 'Smnmber.of Bpeeial cases where the meeess to' land Vary, though i«§MMittans i under which it is held the ■ game.'