HARES AND QUAIL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 728, 29 January 1910, Page 5

HARES AND QUAIL.

A NUISANCE TO FARMEES. ■" DEPUTATION TO TEE MINISTER. Representatives of tho; Council of the Wellington Acclimatisation iSociety and- ; :of ~;various • district sub-oommitteos in- . torviowod tho .Minister far Internal' Af. ; fairs (tho Hon. D. Bnddo) yesterday af- ' tornoon : with raferonoo: to lie .matter): of 1 , tho statutory close season for- native and imported • Mr, L.. G. Roid, of the Council' of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, in- ! troduced the deputation, . He-saiu.thlat reports .from, the ;Palmerston' North district showed. that hares : had increased so rapidly -as to'; have. beooino a serious nuisance -to .the.-farmers. ; j.-Similarr,reports had-teen revived from' Masterton.'. Tho society's. rangeis ..'stated ' that:' owing: : -to the dry season, - the - harw^had'been .exceptionally prolifio, .while, quail were.very numerous. It :was 'considered i; . that' judicious shooting would' be much more effective' .than,.laying poison.. The. latter, method, of keeping down the pest would ; affect .other gajne, - while shooting, would bo confined 1 to hares and quail. What was .desired : was ,a' suspension" of the tri-. ennial, closo season (1910), ordered by statute.-; ' : -M-v';:.--Another'-speaker ' declared that quail •had become ;so;numerous in Marlborough and Nelson, that • seeding operations were seriously menaced. ,' Clover was also suffering from the inroads;of the birds.' . The Minister, .in. his reply, 6aid that it, was not his business: : to;flnd'means:' of making a' hole:in: the 'Act. r The law enacted that every third' year. should: be a close .'season for native and imported game.' ; At : his: discretion he, could. grant: permission to' shoot all classes of native or imported game,' or a portion of a class.'. He had received, a number of applications for an open season—more from the North Island than the' South Island. Some people-wanted; an-open season'for all game; others desired- an open season for imported game only, whilo -:; others again .desired a closo season for certain, classes of imported game;. So far as he understood the position, there seemed ,to be some: cause, tor considering the .question of an open season for hares throughout New; Zealand. Quaili.were tho .most innocont and most easily destroyed of any class of game, and liable to be completely destroyed by pot-hunters. : In some parts of the country thoy were scarce, although in the .grass districts, they were: excop-; tionally plentiful., A- large number of acclimatisation societies' had applied for an open' season, but he .could not shut: his. eyes to-the absolute necessity of_proservinK; the game in 'some .districts. However, he: was anxious to ; see that the farmers were protected, and. he would be pleased to givo-their , representations his consideration, and ~ make pnblio his decision within the-next; six weeks.