CORRESPONDENCE

Hokitika Guardian, 5 October 1932, Page 4

CORRESPONDENCE

A FURTHER REPLY. (To the Editor.) jSir,—l feel very sorry for humble . fisherman “Interested” who. has J given to tha general public a remark- * able exposition of his ignorance of the whitebait regulations, in the “Guardian” on Saturday Ist. October.,.;'l may say that .boat fishing was not illegal prior to 26th. September, 1932. I ' would strongly .advise “Interested” to stay on his trench, if he has one, j where he will be out ofi the way, sand-wt | the dear little,;,whitebait will go round c.i ! his net ias , r . and on to Labe rti j iijrhinapua probably?, I can always oblige by selling him some. I would i also like to have ,a few words with “Ratepayer” who wrote on October 3rd., .pointing out, among other things, that- able bodied boat’ fishermen annoy , the women who fish in trendies. Well now I claim to be one of those able men, a.nd being single it will be easy to understand,, I have been annoyed enough by the. .ladies. On that ’ account I have fished as much as possible behind them, but, now that- they object to my manly thoughtfulness, I shall spend .more of my time in .front of .them. As for Mr Ratepayer and Interested, if any one of them is good enough to duck a singly boat fishermen into tile creek, I trill pre* sent toy boat to, him, It may he handy for carrying stones, if nothing else, for 1 , some of the heavy weight champions about, the South Spit bridge, to throw at us, an entertain" ment of this sort was turned on there a few- weeks ago. The looal Inspector of Fisheries is a fine able officer with a wonderful personality, he has dove much of late to safeguard the humble fisherman, from those monster oulprits who used to row their boats up and down the creek in the good did days.. In the regulations gazetted 7th. July, 1932, there appears the following (no person shall use for the purpose of enabling him to take whitebait, jiggers or another other devise or contrivance which tends to pnevent or divert the movement of such fish up or down stream) surely the use of stones must ■ come within the meaning of this regulation, and if the Inspector wants to make a sure “catch” he has just to take a quite walk up to/ the railway or traffic bridge any old time when the tide is running in, and! he will wonder whether they are trying to catch the whitebait or kill them with stones. •; ''• ■ ’ I am etc., HILL 60. (To the Editor.) *: Sir.—'Ratepayer, evidently has a distorted idea ,of ,tbe actions of the boat fishermen of Mahiriapua Creek when lie calls those actions despicable, tintil the 26th: September boat fish* ing Was quite legal. As to aiinoyifig the woinaii ti-encli holders, if he were acquainted with tlwm, hu would know that not any able bodied single man would dare annoy them, especially if they had / a handful of stones handy. I can assune “Ratepayer” that most of the , despicable actions were committed in front of trenches .fished -by men, ■ most of whom are not quite so courI algcous as women. v j Tile idea, of rowing up and down the centre of the stream, so as to frighten the fish up the creek, is a silly one, the fish would be chased into the trenches and caught. Boat j fishing entails a lot of hard work, • perhaps that is-the reason “Ratepayer” lis so bitter against boats. , “Ratepayer need have no fears of an assault action pending, if he thinks a ducking would be beneficial to any one of these men. They do not need a policemen standing on the beach to protect them. J In conclusion, I would like to bring to the notice of our local Inspector, when be comes to do his duty, the , illegal practice of throwing stones so ' I as to divert the natural! course of the whitebait. I am etc., - ABLE (BODIED. (To the Editor.) Sir,—l agree absolutely with “Ratepayer” that the boa,t-fishermen have confined themselves to the women holders of registered trenches. If [boat-fishing is so despicable I wonder what those drag-net fishermen who first fish at the month of the creek, and then go over and fish off the north wall think of themselves. I cannot help complimenting boatfishermen on their judgment of character, in only fishing in front of those persons who would, not- take the law into their own hands, although I don’t think they are the sort who would seek police protection, or sue for damages if they were hurt. In conclusion I wish to state that Sergeant King suffered no indignity i as he tried to enforce a law of his own making. I am etc., DESPISED. •This correspondence is now closed—3d. G.