CORRESPONDENCE.

Lyttelton Times, Volume III, Issue 149, 12 November 1853, Page 9

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Lytielton Times,

Sir,—l have received a letter from an officer high in the civil service of India, stating his intention, as far as he can will it, of being here before the year ends, with a variety of game from the upper provinces and hill districts of Hindostan. He says, *' I sail with my wife and daughter from Calcutta on the first of October in the P. and O. Company's steamer for Sydney, and I am bringing with me all kinds of game, deer, &c, &c. This time I have succeeded in getting black partridge, as well as grey. I have procured a very fine Arab," &c. I wish my fellow colonists would receive this gentleman as he deserves to be received; for a kind welcome is assuredly due to the man who purchases and transports a menagerie for the public good. If Mr. John Cracroft Wilson fails now, he will yet succeed if he is spurred on by the anxious wish of the settlers for his success. The subject is in my opinion of sufficient interest to excite this desire in every individual in the Settlement. The great drawback to New Zealand is the want of game. Yet this country is the finest field for all the animal life it is so,essential we should introduce. I say essential, for on the success of this will hinge much of our material prosperity. I hold that the pursuit of game not only furnishes amusement, but also, in a great measure, forms the character of a people. Few "wiirdeny~that theTheart's blood of a young Settlement is the constant stream of immigration. Now this stream here is impeded by the barrenness of these Islands in animal

life. How often I have beard the expression—" New Zealand won't do for me, there is nothing to shoot." In India there are many kinds of game that would thrive well on these plains, among these hills, and in our woods. Mr. Wilson will bring spotted deer, antelope, hog deer, Himalaya pheasants, jungle fowl, &c. ; he will soon be here, and then the people may judge whether the game will live and is worth preserving and importing. I travelled some hundreds of miles to see Mr. Wilson, particularly on this subject, before I left India, and his fear was, "I may go," he said, "to great expense and trouble but to furnish a few shots for some of your Canterbury sportsmen." I denied that such a chance existed—that there were any so lost to the feeling of Englishmen; and I expressed my conviction that public opinion would be a sufficient safeguard. I explained the nature of the institution that existed here, the Colonists' Society, and in what a spirit the members of that body would undertake the protection of the animals; and I said what I felt then to be true, and feel now, that if Mr. Wilson frankly made the game a present to the public, they would know how to take charge of that gift, and no one would dare to destroy one of the animals. lam the more anxious that the public should know and appreciate the efforts made on their behalf from a fact which lately came to my knowledge. A Captain. Strange, who was then at the head of the great Longitudinal Survey of India, made a collection of seeds, which he was in a singularly good situation to make, and forwarded them, if I remember aright what he said, to the Secretary of the Canterbury Association, with a request that they might be sent out to the Settlement. He received no answer to his letter, and heard nothing further on the subject. The other day, however, a packet of seeds was dug out of some lumber where it had been lying for two years, which I imagine were the seeds this gentleman fondly hoped were budding into life on the Canterbury Plains. If these efforts are to be met thus, as those who make them put themselves to expense as well as trouble, they will soon cease, and the sooner they cease the better. The mistake Captain Strange made was that he sent the seeds to the Association instead of the Colonists' Society. Had he sent them to the latter body, he would ere this not only have received a letter of thanks, but a report also on the result, which would have enabled him and others coming here to judge what were the seeds they should bring. There is an old proverb, " better late than never," which I regard as being true, and would therefore urge on the Society the propriety of explaining to Captain Strange the reason of his not sooner having received a letter thanking him, and requesting that other samples of these seeds might be forwarded, a request which I know he would at once comply with. I have the honor to be, Your's &c, &c, D. D. Muter.