HOKITIKA NOTES

Grey River Argus, 1 June 1943, Page 2

HOKITIKA NOTES

(Our Own Correspondent)

HOKITIKA, May 31. A local launch fishing off Hokitika during the present spell of good weather has had excellent results. On Friday a good catch was secureu, and on Saturday the launch brought in 76 hapuka. The launch went" out again on Sunday and an-1 other good haul was secured. While the sea remains calm, and favourable weather continues, good fishing | should ■be had. Fishermen maintain the large hauls are secured f :om' huge numbers of hapuka proceeding along the Coast to spanning grounds. I The spawning ends this month, lhe llsh were in excellent condition, anc. ■ some were very large. j Mr A. E. Perry was voted to tne chair in the absence of the president, Mr C. L Harper, at the annual meet- ■ in 2 of the Westland Acclimatisation Society. The balance-sheet disclosed a profit of £137 19s 7d for the year. , This was due to the revenue receiv- ( ed from opossums, which amounted ’ to £l4l 14s lid. Fishing licenses de- : creased by £6. and no revenue was received tor game licenses, owing to the closed season. Expenditure was i less by close on £54, due to decreas- I ed purchases of game, and restricted , activity. With some £425 in hand. ! the Society invested £2OO in the War Loan. The chairman said the _ finances were in a healthy condition. I An experiment in opening the fishing season a month earlier was tried our. and found to be very successful. A limited number of anglers were selected to try out the new season. Following their reports the Society decided to ask the Department of Internal Affairs to gazette the desired alteration to open the season on September 1. The Society is of opinion that constant flooding and presence of snow water are against good fishing. The closed game season was responsible for an increase in the number of ducks this season. Weasels took a toll of many young ducks reared for the society by Mr Ken Coles. There were 28 young Mailard ducks liberated. Attacks by “two-legged weasels” did not give the ducks much chance! Encouraging reports are to hand in regard to broods of young pheasants in the Arahura district. There were 23,345 opossum skins stamped for the season, an increase of 557 over the previous year. Opossums are reported plentiful in the district. During the year the Society suffered a loss by the death of Mr J. J. Mclntosh, one of the earliest members. The following. officers were elected: President, Mr I C. L. Harper; vice-president, Mr G. l H. Chapman hon. secretary and treasurer, Mr Armstrong; auditor, Mr Elcock; committee, Messrs A. Broome, W. Harris, J. N. Robinson-, G. Michel, L. Patterson, A. E. Perry, J. Preston, D. J. Evans, W. Nimmo, T. Mitchell, C. Phaflert and J. Shivas. Country members: Messrs A. Cron (Haast), N. Friend (Okarito), A. Graham (Waiho), H. Adamson, A. Clark and R. Arnold (WJataroa) and G. Adamson (Harihari); A. Thompson, G. Buchanan, Ri Pierson (Ross) and A. Muir (Arahura). The secretary was instructed to make inquiries'as to the securing of supplies of eyed-ova and to try out the planting system of incubation. Application also to be made for 100.000 each of rainbow and quinnat ova.