MODERN ZOOS. EXPERT IN WELLINGTON.

Evening Post, Volume LXXXI, Issue 92, 20 April 1911, Page 7

MODERN ZOOS. EXPERT IN WELLINGTON.

A CIVIC WELCOME. A hearty welcome was extended by the Reserves Committee of the City Council to-day to Mr. A. S. Le Soeuf, ]>irector of the Sydney Zoological Gardens, who has come to Wellington at the invitation of the council to report on the local Zoo. Mr. J. P. Luke, who presided, referred to the high standing of Mr. Le Soeuf in things zoological, and expressed the hope that his stay in Wellington wouid be a pleasant' one, and that the result of his observations and recommendations woidd be for the ultimate benefit of an undertaking which, as yet, was only in its infancy. The ofcher members of the committee also expressed a few words of welcome. Mr. Le Soeuf, in the course of his reply, remarked on the atmosphere of, business which possessed the city, and congratulated the council on its attempt to cope with the difficulty of narrow streets, a work which, he said, had tJeen left until too late in many large .towns. He noticed, too, that a marine drive was being constructed. This was a work which Sydney had talked 1 of for years, but had not been carried out. In most countries of the world zoological gardens were managed by municipalities, but in Australia they had Government control, with the direct management in the hands of private councils. In the case of the Sydney Zoo the usual Government subsidy was £3000 per annum, and the authorities netted another £4000 per amnim out of attendances. He referred also to the present-day tendency in the care of animals—a subject which he more fully developed in an interview printed at the foot hereof. Zoos, he added, were everywhere self-supporting, except where admission, was free or where free days were provided for. The Government in New South Wales was pro; .viding a new zoo on enormously valuable land on the water front, at a cost of £30,000. He concluded by acknowledging the heartiness of the welcome accorded him and expressing the hope that the kindred societies would work in unison. (Applause.)