ACCLIMATISATION OF GAME.

King Country Chronicle, Volume IV, Issue 274, 6 July 1910, Page 3

ACCLIMATISATION OF GAME.

New Zealand is an ideal place.for game of all kinds,; there is plenty of cover, abundance -of feed and vapt tracts of country entirely suitable for game/ (especially the feathered tribe), but, in spijteof these favbiirable conditions, game is on the decrease and in somie-districts, such as the Auckland Acclimatisation Society's district, pheasants, are 'so scarce that in the best localities two brace of pheasants for a hard day's walk with a good dog is considered a good bag, whilst as a general rule a day's hard tramp generally results in an empty bag or at most one bird. Too much shooting" and shooting during close season is the most important cause of the decrease of the pheasant, duck, pigeon and' other birds in New Zealand. Many of those who go in pursuit of game have to learn they can't have their cake and eat it at the same time. The United States of America, which was a country teeming with-all kinds of game (feathered and four-footed) has of late years been depleted of game to such an extent that tire authorities have been obliged to take steps to regulate the shooting of birds and beasts and limit the bags and in many instances (to preserve certain species) to close against all shooting vast areas of country for a certain period, besides creating large permanent reserves. The penalties for breach of game laws have been increased and generally illegal shooting lands the culprit in for the maximvm fine. America has been named as an instance because it is a country somewhat similar to New Ze.aland, but with this difference, U.S.A. had its own natural game, whereas in New Zealand it has had to be acclimatised. In the past acclimatisation societies in New Zealand, have done some splendid work in the acclimatisation of both •fish and game and there are a fair number of societies still doing good work, but there are other societies who are unpopular with the shooter who take 3 out a license to shoot game and with the farmer and country people generally. Take, for instance, the Auckland Acclimatisation Society. It issues of an average, somewhere about 700 to 800 £1 licenses annually, but out of these large numbers of license holders there are few members of the society and it is not generally known that the total members of the society at last March were only 25 including president, vice-president, council secretary and rangers. We are probably not far wrong in saying the Auckland society has jurisdiction over one of the largest districts in New Zealand. ""Its revenue is one of the largest, owing to the system which has been in. force for some years at inducing the shooters to take out an Auckland society's £ 1 license under, the understanding it allows a license holder to shoot in other societies' districts, thus filching the revenue of surrounding societies from them, societies which have a fair amount of game while Auckland has not, thus shooters have to go far afield to obtain a bag and then find th^Auckland license does not allow them to "shoot. This is only one cause for the Auckland Society's unpopularity. For years past it has spent nothing on importing game, certainly it has lately gone in for a pheasant rearing establishment, but so far results'shew it to have been a white elephant which devours a large amount of money annually, with practically na benefit to the pheasants. It would be much better to have .spent the money wasted on this game farm in the of hawks, which are simply swarming throughout the district and- not only prevent the increase in the pheasnts (even if let al he by the pot hunters) but are a most serious menace to the poultry yard a/id sheep farmers, for when .game, birds become scarce the hawk will hover over the poultry yard by the r hour, till* it gets a chance to snatch up one of the birds. The haWk also picks out the eyes of lamb and

generally is a most destructive bird. It is no exaggeration to say often a dozerr hawks .will rise at once off one small patch of land in the Waikato. The license hoiders receives no protection from the society. There are no rangers except for a few days at the beginning of the season and boy.s are out in : pursuit of game at all times without licenses and often during close season. Many consider k anything is better than the present state of affairs. The time has now 1 arrived when the sporting public insists' upon every acclimatisation society showing something of a practical nature Jrn the protection existing species and acclimatisat'bn x)f new 'species for the revenue collected by it. The question is, what is going to alter this most unsatisfactory state of affairs in regard to game in New Zealand at the present time. Firstly, a gun license is absolutely necessary, even if it is only- 2s 6d per annum. Rewards for hawks' heads should always be in force in all districts. The minimum penalty for breach of the game laws should be fixed by Statute at £1 for each offence. Rewards of £5 should be offered for the conviction of persons shooting or taking game out of season or shooting-hen pheasants or for shooting game imported for acclimatisation purposes and not yet open for shooting. The shooting of hen pheasants in the country districts for food should be completely stopped. At the pre-ent time the law is winked at in this respect. A large number of young hen'pheasants should be distributed in the-distircts.where ,tbe birds are scarce, for when the birds are nearly shot out only a few • old hens and cocks will be found (the i young ones having become an easy i prey to the many sportsmen) and even I if these nested a large proportion of the eggs would be infertile. Wher- • ever possible the poisoning of rabbits ■ should-be stopped and trapping and 1 shooting inaugurated instead,-thus sup- ■ plying the, large cities and town 3 with I rabbits for food purposes and the skins ' commerce, besides giving a lucrative • employment to a large number of ! trappers. If this were done New Zealand ! would be a "sportsmen's paradise," ; and whereas at the present time good i- sport is only enjoyed by the few who t can go far afield, all- sportsmen could '■ look forward to at least half a dozen s good days' shopting each year and in • say three or four years large bags • would be obtained by all sports in New > Zealand who were good shots and were > fortunate enough to have good dogs.