NEWTOWN ZOO

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 17, 21 January 1924, Page 13

NEWTOWN ZOO

INTERESTING, INSTRUCTIVE AND AMUSING

BEOM the very day on which showmanship began (it has been the privilege of the showman, of the menagerial showman at any rate, to puff his goods to the utmost limts of the language within his command, to instruct his poster artist to paint (in unnatural colours) two of every beast of which he has one specimen and a denful of each family of beats of which his show has two. No doubt the council, on behalf of citizens, could puff and praise the Zoo with exaggerated descriptions and gorgeously coloured process plates, but brisk boom business could not hold for long. The menagerie man is here to-day and gone to-morrow, but the Zoo is here to-morrow.

and as such has done a very great deal towards making the collection what it is to-day, and in raising, funds'towards the cost of improving the Zoo grounds., .. The City Council has the direct control and foots the major bills, but the society has' done a very fair share of Zoo work, some of the animals secured by it for the Zoo and purchased or part-pur-chased being a brown bear, a fine young leopard, rufous-necked wallaby, severalostriches, kiwis, textor weaver birds,' a red-crested "cardinal bird, a kookaburra or laughing jackass, a satin bower-bird, bronze-winged pigeons, green-winged pigeons, female- budgerigars, several flamingoes, plumed pigeons, Osman and Oscar, two noted dogs Lthat' had' meriteqV ifame by great achievements in the. historic expedi-

Before looking over the animals and birds as they are to-day it may be interesting to glance back seventeen years or so to 20th April, 1906, when Mr. C. M. Luke headed a deputation to the City Council, the Hon. T. W. Hislop then being Mayor, to present a petition and to request the council to accept the offer of a lion cub (which later grew to be King Dick, now deceased, stuffed, and in the Newtown Museum) made by the firm of Bostoek and Wombwell, at that time showing at the Christchurch International Exhibition, the (poster-guaranteed) greatest collection of wild animals on earth.

tions led by Scott and Shackleton in the Antarctic, a zebu bull, golden pheasants, peacocks, castellum pheasants, European cranes, Port Lincoln parrots, lizards, whydah birds, American bald eagles, orange •weaver birds, Napoleon weavers, flying squirrels, pig-tailed monkeys, bonnet monkeys, margay cat, Angora goats, parrakeets and parrot, spider monkeys, crowned eagle, Pekin robins, Malayan bear, tortoises, dromedaries, Russian geese, regent birds, finches, peccaries, Tasmanian devils, hedge-hogs, cockatoos, and small fry galore: It is as a result of the society's efforts also that a mate to the beautiful tigress is to come to Newtown Park from- India. For long enough past members have been looking for stripes, and when the Rev. Dr. Pinfold was leaving for England some months ago the ex-chairman made a proposal that Dr. Pinfold should approach, through the proper channels, the Prince of Wales himself, since the Royal Famf ily as keenly interested patrons of the London Zoo, must also have an interest in other Empire Zoos. The Prince answered that he had no tiger to give—quite probably so royal a

In the meantime the first Zoological Society had been formed, and Mr. D. C. Bates, as secretary, and a very energetic member, was detailed to go north and bring the Zoo down. It was not a very large collection, and fitted moderately comfortably in a strong packing case, after long arguments as to safety, of course. With the young King Dick safely behind the bars at Newtown Park, the Zoo had started. Wellington had established the first municipally controlled Zoo in Australasia.

The larger the collection the longer the argument, or so it appears on looking back to the beginning of the Zoo, but comparative peace came when a new Zoological Society was formed and the first society gradually lapsed.

gift as a tiger from an Indian prince to the Prince of Wales may not again be given, though it may without breach of the etiquette of gifts;be lodged in such and such a collection—but later Sir Lionel Halsey made it known that he had been fortunate enough to secure a tiger in India for Wellington.

The society, of course, has no direct control over the Zoo, but acts as an advisory fcody,