OPOSSUMS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1810, 25 July 1913, Page 3

OPOSSUMS.

0 — MINISTER PROMISES SOME PROTECTION. "A BRUTAL TRADE." The matter of tho protection of opossums was referred to the Minister for Internal Affair;, (Hon. Jl. I). Bell) by tli-j Acclimatisation Societies' Conference yesterday, llr. L. 0. 11. Tripp, president of the conference, nddressing tho Minister, said that they wero now satisfied that the Government had been misled in the matter. An Otago farmer had told the speaker 'recently that he had been one of tnose who had uirged on the Minister the removal of the protection on opossums. Hp was now satisfied that he hail made a .mistake. The association did not aslc for protection in districts where- the opossums might do damage. It' it came lo a matter of industry versus the opossum, of course tlio opossum must go. in Nelson, tor instance, where there was a big Inut industry, they ci:d not ask for protection. The Government would «o welt to follow tho law of Tasiuania, which relied much oa its fruit iniliiitry. ,ln Tasmania the opossum was proltcte-.!, but crchardists were allowed to Jciil on their own property, ii' the animals were doing any damage, and provided that skins of animals tai;en m the class season were handed to Government authorities. In New Zealand, either the Government or the acclimatisation societies could take charge of the skins. Tho Government should <!o something at once. Licenses lor killing opes'sums should lie issued and the price of a liceuso should be at least J5lO. As in Tasmania, the pefialty for the illegal taking of skms should Ijs not less tnan i'l per skin, or more than .£2.

Mr. G. W. M'lntosh (Otago) said there was abundant proof in his district that the Government .had done wrong in removing tho protection. The opossums had been annihilated in some places, and a valuable industry practically ruined. Jlr. E. Eussell (Southland) advocated a provision that trappers should be compelled to examine their traps every day. At present great cruelty was inflicte_d or. many animals, through theiv being left in the traps for a week. The evil of poaching was very great. People set out to kill opossums', and they killed all sorts of game for food while to engaged. Mr. G. M. Thomson, M.l'. (.Otago), explained to the Jlinister that his (the speaker's) previous action in advocating tlie removal of the protection was mistaken. lie was nC'W "right out" for protection. (Applause.) In his reply, Mr. Bell -said that the* were all agreed that the opossum was of no value from a sporting point of view. Tl\e question was therefore whether it was of commercial value, a;id, further, whether the opossum industry would interfere with any other industry previously established. Nothing he had heard had convinced him thfit the opossum was not a nuisance in fruit districts, lie could not agree with Mr. Tripp's suggrstion that orchardists should be allowed to ltill oil their own land, as a means of keeping tho animals in check. This was not enough. Still he recognised that there were many districts where they might be protected. He was therefore prepared to protect the whole of Otago and Southland, and the West Coast, with the exception. of the district round Kelson. The fruit industry in Otago would not suffer, as there was no forest for the animals to live in in the fruit country. In the North Auckland district, until he was assured that the opossum was not an enemy of l'ruit, the animal could be killed at any time without license. They would also be without protection all down the East Coast. The Government could not be moved by talk of cruelty in tho trapping. The whole thiug was a cruel, brutal business, and he thought the society should amalgamate with the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals if they wanted to do anything in this respect. Who was to enforce the suggested law that traps should be examined everyday—the Government or the societies? Personally, he would not lift a hand to help the horrible,. cruel industry they were trying to introduce into the Dominion, but he had been strongly influenced by the societies. Tho only time the opossum could be taken was in the breeding season, and the animals and their young were left to die in misery in the traps. The societies would not even permit the trapping of rabbits unless they were vermin, but would insist that they should be killed in a humane manner, as they did in tho case of feathered game. He hoped the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals would have something to say about the trade..

Mr. Eussell: Jly society has heen catching these animals for years. By blinding the jaws of the trap, suffering is very much minimised, and in 19 cases out of 20 the leg is not broken. Mr. Bell: But tlte traps used by acclimatisation societies and those used by trappers are different things. Personally, I object to the trapping, but as a Minister 1 am going to givo you what you require except in fruit-growing districts. The' future will show whether Mr. Bell has not been right and the Government wrong.