The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1874.

Globe, Volume I, Issue 26, 30 June 1874, Page 2

The Globe. TUESDAY, JUNE 30, 1874.

A meeting of the Acclimatisation Society was to be held this afternoon. We sincerely trust that the gentlemen comprising this body were enaabled to find out the person by whose order the late disgraceful scenes in the Domain have been enacted. It seems almost incredible that, so close to the town, such a series of baits can have been carried on without the interference of the police. The loss of so many of the deer is a very great one to the province ; and when we consider that the whole of the slaughter might have been avoided by a little management, we are vexed that the services of some one accustomed to the nature of the animals in question was not called in. Deer like those in the Domain may be considered as half domesticated, and even if the erection of a small yard, high enough to prevent their leaping out, would have cost some few pounds, still the expenditure would have been but a tithe of that which will now be necessary, if we are to replace the animals that were slaughtered. It appears that one of the deer was quite tame, and in the present hard weather it might easily have been made a decoy for the others if it had been regularly fed at one particular spot. The question of the ownership of these animals also appears to bo in doubt. Mr A. 0. Knight asked the Government last night whether they knew to whom the deer belonged, but ho was answered in the negative. There appears to be something very strange about the whole proceeding, and we hope the report of the meeting of the Society this afternoon has cleared it up. It is all very well for the deer to be allowed to wander in the domain until it is required for the purpose of breaking up ; but we must have some guarantee that the scenes of the last week will not be reenacted. It is to be hoped that, if the curator ordered the last attempts to be made in the manner in which they were, the Society will check his zeal ui the future, unless indeed, as we

liavo heard it whispered, the curator is an autocrat against whose fiat there is no appeal. With regard to the wallabies, although the scene that took place at their attempted capture, was not less disgraceful than that which occurred at the deer hunt, yet they can be very easily replaced, and their loss is not so important as that of the deer. Wo see that the deer that escaped from the Domain has taken up its quarters in llagley park, and that an attempt was made yesterday to lasso it, without success; it will probably be very difficult to secure this animal now as it is solitary, but we hope the efforts made will be successful. We do not grudge the Premier of New Zealand an occasional haunch of venison, and nobody will appreciate it more; but we trust we may not be called upon to chronicle any more deer hunts in the Domain, of which the only end, is to be the supplying of the gentleman in question with the priraest carcase.