POACHING.

Hokitika Guardian, 21 November 1921, Page 1

POACHING.

A SKKUH S IN DICTA! K.N'T. \VKI.I.I NCTON , Nov. i: for sonic lime, poacliiup Ini' hven inmpani in the Wellington ilisl 1 ict. llM i| the loeal Aeelitnalisa lion Society apparently has been aMe to do little to Stop it. One of the runners recently w rote-a memorandnin to the Socielv on the subject, and suppested that the Society would have to develop a dillprent policy if they wished to conserve 1 1 sh. and panic.

Mr AvsoN, chioi insnecle.i of to - m in an interview with a local pressman, eonlirms the statements matle by the ranper. He says panic lords, both native and inipoiteil, are beinp shot without a license, and out of season native pipemis and other birds wholly protected are shot indiscriminately, while trout and salmon are hilled w holesale bv explosives and other means. There is also wholesale destruction m the spawninp beds in the hieedinp season A pveat many of the ordinarily respectable residents of the towns and country scorn to think uothinp of poarhinp fish a ltd panic, and respect for the

game laws and the true sporting spirit are wanting on every side. “Whether a spirit of lawlessness that is pervading this ns well as all other countries at tile present time has anything to do with it, or whether it is that acclimatisation societies, through lack of funds nr other reasons, cannot keep poaching in cheek, I am unable to say. 1 Inwevei. there is no doubt that poaching ill its ver' itursl form is on the increase evert year, and I be! that unless effective measures are taken to keep it in cheek, there is a great risk that it will get out of hand, and that the law will he openly defied. How to check this evil, which tends to undo the work of the societies, and spoil the sport for legitimate sportsmen, is a matter for serious thought by all acclimatisation bodies, and in getting the public to realise the necessity ul observing any necessary protective regulations, they would, 1 think, have the sympathy of the GuveTbment. It is easy to make laws for the protection of fish and game, hut beyond the mere placing of n law on the Statute Book, there is the necessity ol making that law effective. When the need for a law is realised hv the general public it will always lie found that there will he little necessity ol onioning it.” Mr Ayson advocates a campaign by the societies, with a view to instilling in the public the qualities ol true sportsmanship. Children ought, he says, to lie taught a love of animals, birds, and fish, and a love lor clean sport. ’The conservation of fish and game will only he eileeted when the public is interested in its piosorvation, and by the sporting spirit shown by those wlm fish and shoot. Men employed on rebel public works are blamed for killing fish by the use ol explosives in the streams.