FUR, FISH AND FEATHER

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIV, Issue 10292, 29 May 1919, Page 8

FUR, FISH AND FEATHER

ACCLIMATISATION f SOCIETY

THIRTY-FOURTH ANNUAL MEETING HELD.

The thirty-fourth annual meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society was held at the Chamber of Commerce la-st night, the president, Mr L. 0. H - Tripp, in the chair. In moving the adoption of the report and balance-sheet (already dealt with in these columns), the chairman congratulated the society on having a credit balance of £204 after four years, of war, in spite oi so many of their license-holders having gone to the flout. isow.that the war was over, ho thought that there wore many ways in which the incoming council might increase their expenditure, and no felt sure that their revenue during tne coming year would be a good one.; for hue past two years their revenue , from licenses had fallen off consider-' ably, the decrease last year being iliAl IDs Id. They had been very loitunate in having had the camps at Trentham and roatherston, as many of tne soldiers had taken out licenses for "shooting and fishing in the district. and chat had' helped them to keep up their revenue. They would have, among other things, to consider the appointment of another raugeiIn Air wiison they had an excel lent ranger, but one -ranger was not sufficient- (Applause.) Their attempt to breed pheasants at Masterfon during the past year had proved a failure, and they would have to consider whether it would pay , better to try to breed them or to. import them from other districts. , THOUX OVA WANTED.

Steps would have to be taken, too, to stock all their rivers as fully as possible with trout ova; and they were taking steps, through Mr Miller, the curator, to trap iish for ova, and to get trout ova also from the Government. They had learnt that 250,000 brown trout ova could bo obtained from Otago at 6s a thousand, and the obtaining of these would have to be considered by the council. They could put hundreds of thousands more of ova in the rivers if they could only get them. He regretted that the Government had not earned last year the legislation necessary to enable them to issue licenses for shooting opossums. The proposal was for a' license-fee of £l, with a limit of thirty skins per gun. If opossums could be established in New Zealand they would afford good sport, and become also the basis of a valuable industry. They wished to protect opossums, of course, only in heavy bush districts; but they could readily be kept down in numbers, by trapping and, so on, in the more open districts. A good license-fee would also increase their revenue. ■ Mr Talbot said that if the number of opossums that license-holders to kill was evaded as often as the limit in regard to ducks, etc., they would never get a valuable industry established. BREEDING POACHERS.

Mr Powell complained cl the dearth of game in the district. If they wanted men to take out licenses an<l to encourage shooting, ho said, they mua> breed more game. The present policy of the council was' ■ simply breeding poachers. A gentleman wno had shot over Australia, and had shot over South Africa, had taken out a license some time ago on his recommendation, and up to date he had,'secured the magnificent “bag” of one rabbit. (Laughter.) If they were to encourage shooters, they must have game in tne district. Several men had told 'him that.the society was doing no good. It was not alive. Another member said that there were plenty of hares and some pheasants. Mr Powell must have directed his friend into the wrong parte of the district for game. He agreed, however, there was not enough game in the Wellington district to encourage shooters. He had himself given up his shooting license on that account. He strongly urged that they should find a man wno understood the business of breeding pheasants and set to work to make it a success. They had 500 acres at Waikanae, where they were breeding a few deer. They should be able to breed plenty of buds there. Others present stated that only three or four pheasants bred in the district had been liberated during the season. Others had been imported from Auckland, at LI pei head for cock birds. , Mr S. G. Nathan said that it would pay them far better to spend £IOO to £l5O on getting the birds from Auckland than to pay, say, £l6O a year for a man to breed pheasants and make a failure of it. He thought this district was not suitable for breeding them. . “SANCTUARY.” Mr W. H. Field, M.P., said that his place at Waakanae was overrun with hares, and he “ad seriously thought of asking the Government to allow him to shoot hares all the year round. Pheasants. quail, and native birds wore also increasing in the "sanctuary” on his farm in that district; and if the socie.y encouraged the idea he would be Prepared to consider favourably the question of making the whole farm of 7000 acres into a sanctuary. (Applause.) Pigeons, too, were increasing in the district. Unfortunately, however, they were being shot wholesale in some parts of the district, and, with only one ranger, they could not put a stop to it. (Applause.) Mr A. J. Rutherford said that he had followed up the matter for some rears, and he thought that the failures m regard to pheasants, French partridge, and other birds- that were' great ant-eaters and hunted them out, was due to the seasons when they had great numbers of red ants. In those seasons the mortality amongst such birds was very great. One reason why they had had a comparative failure in rearing trout and no longer found big fish in the head waters of their rivers was that tho fish were literally starved out through the starlings etc., eating up all the grasshoppers, ‘ cicadas, etc., that the trout fed on. But the main reason was that, with so many gun-men at the front, tho shags bad increased and multiplied to such an extent thatthey frightened the fish away from the headwaters. Instead of buying ova it would pay them better to emfesomo of tbo returned men to up tho “shaggeries.” In one district where this had been thorough-' lv done some years ago, three very good fishing years followed. He believed that for three years past they had been stocking the Manawntu, tho

Pohangina, and the Wairarapa rivers simply to feed shags, etc.Mr Fleming said that Mr Munio, Inspector to the Agricultural Department, had told him that the pheasants had done very well on Somes island till the Germans poisoned them all off but one cock. There was plenty of natural' shelter and natural food on the island, and no natural enemies, not even a cat.

Yet another member said that there were plenty of pheasants up the Wainui, also plenty of teal, ducks, swans, etc.. lon a property that ho would not name, but it had a lake in it, and was well-known. Ho had more than once asked permission to shoot over the property, but it had been refused, it was as if the owners had presented a machine-gun at him. • _ , Replying on the discussion, Mr Tripp said that they ought undoubtedly to have a gun license, but conference had passed resolutions. in favour of such a license for twenty years past, and it seemed quite impossible to get VParliaraent to do anything in that direction. ELECTION OF OFFICERS. Officers for the ensuing year were elected as follow; —Patron, His Excellency the Governor-General; vicepresidents, Messrs \V. H. Beetham, A.’J. Rutherford, L. G.. Reid, E. .Hiddiford, and A. T. Lowe"j council, Messrs Vv. H. Field,: 'JU..P., J. t>fleming, S. George ■ Nathan, E. J. C. .vv uuri, and Rowell; auditor, Mr Vv. S. Wheeler, F.P.A.