ACCLIMATISATION AFFAIRS

Hokitika Guardian, 28 May 1927, Page 1

ACCLIMATISATION AFFAIRS

(To the Editor.) yii- A jay I encroach on your sjitieo by replying to a. letter appearing in your issue ol the 20th instant, headed, ‘‘Trout versus ’Whitebait,” and signed “George Perry.” Am 1 right, Air Editor, in assuming that, Air Perry, whose signature appears at the loot of the letter is the .Mayor ol the town and also the President ot the Acclimatisation Society:' D Sl> . I wish to take exception to the attitude | K . has taken up and to the manner in which he is abusing his position as President of the Acclimatisation Society.

From the very fair and impartial report of the annual meeting of the Acclimatisation Society, it will readily he seen how 51 r Perry was appointed to the position of President, ami also the reason for his sudden it ml mysterious activity in Acclimatisation matters. For the last thirty odd years the Society has been active and during all that time, Mr Perry has not been sufficiently interested to become n "subscription” member hy paying a fee of live shillings as he did oil tinnight of the last annual meeting, where he opposed and dclented the gentleman who held the position of President with honour and credit, tor the last Lhirtv years.

Thy Acclimatisation SoJicly's objects are principally “For the introduction and acclimatisation id' imported fish and game.” and in past years the So< iety has tarried on with a very limited revenue, and for a time with fiie help of a small Government subsidy. The gentlemen who carried out the duties of the Society were principally keen and enthusiastic trout fishermen, and on several occasions dipped into their own pockets to help tilings along. A notable instance ol their foresight and interest in the district wits the liberation of opossums, which to-day is a very real asset to the community. The local Society in all their existence have never liberated rabbits, stoats, or weasels in their district.

Mr Perry considers that if even 10 percent of the proposed liberation of •200.000 fry leach maturity that they will destroy as much whitebait as are t a tight annually. Considering the millions of trout, fry that have been liberated in the Hokitika River, ticcording to Mr Perry's estimate, it is a wonder that a single whitebait remains in existence, instead ol the increasing supply that is being caught from year to year.

But the principal point of my letter is to protest against a gentleman of Mr Perry's standing, taking the head position of a Society to whose objects he is totally antagonistic. This, to my mind, is a deplorable attitude in our chief citizen and a side of the question that he has .not given due consideration. I am. etc.. A. ('. ARMSTRONG. Hokitika. May 27. 1927.