OPOTIKI ROD & GUN CLUB

Opotiki News, Volume I, Issue 45, 17 June 1938, Page 3

OPOTIKI ROD & GUN CLUB

REQUESTS AT ROTORUA •< r \ ' OBJECTION TO BROWN FRY * •'* •. . * i•• i,At ithe second annual conference of the Bay of Plenty,,Rod and Bun Clubs, held recently at Rotorua, two remits connected with the department’s methods of liberation \ot fry were tabled by the Opotiki delegates. The first asked that the, Opotiki. objection to the, liberation of brov/n trout fry in the WaiOeka River be supported.

Speaking 'to this remit, Mr R. McIlwraith stated that the cause of,this motion could be traced to the earlier remits dealing with the liberation of fry. The department had been liberating fry jn the river without success, and the'"officers had now decided to liberate brown trout fry. This was being done in spite of the fact that the Opotiki Club had liberated rainbow fittgerlings with excellent- results.

Mr J. Orinond said that the, conservator was of the opinion-that the rainbow fry went clown to the sea. It was decided to send the remit forward to the ‘Minister as aj recommendation.

The other remit, tabled by Mr G. L. Qay, stated that the department’s methods of liberation of fry warranted more strict supervision as to the taking of temperatures, etc. It was his, opinion, said 'Mr Day, that the trout fry was being liberated under wrong conditions.’ As one instance, he told 'how rangers had dumped cans of fry into a river close to where a ■ settler kept a lioek ol ducks. It was well-known that try when liberated kept together, and for. this reason, should be properly ladled out’.

“You might just as well dump the cans of fry into one of the hot springs ip Rotorua for all the good they do, added Mr Bay. Mr C. Reynolds asked whether temperatures wore essential to the liberation of fry as to fingorlings. Mr Day: Definitely. The chairman : 1 do not think this remit should go forward us a recommendation -unless you have actual proof of the wholesale dumping of fry. Mr Day said he had proof and produced a letter written to Ml- Kean with regard to the matter, and inviting the conservator to visit the club.. A Whakatane delegate assured the conference that he could substantiate the charge.

After the remit had been carried, Mr Day said that he wished to make it clear that his club was in no way antagonistic to the Department of internal Affairs. His club was chiefly concerned with the betterment of the sport, and all they asked for was the co-operation of the department.

THE RUKEKG

.QPliiN SEASON AY ANTED Alarm was expressed at the great inroads being made into wild duck and ducklings bv the marauding pukoKo, and a brisk discussion of ike damage caused bv this bird took place.

Personal experiences of- the destruction oi duck by the ptikeko were placed before the conference in a communication received from Mr J. RossJiarclav, of Moiirea, a. member of the Rotorua Rod and Gun Club. The letter stated that for a number of years the writer had lived on or about the lake shores,, and he had been surprised to notice cadi year the large number of wild duck to be seen without young at this season.

During the present year he had hatched a number of tame duck and when a mouth old lie allowed them,, with their mother, to range his property on the banks of the Oliait Channel. AY lien the first clutch had been ranging for a week, the writer found on closing them up at night, that one duckling had been badly mauled, and was minus half its beak and tongue.

\Altliough be had heard several sportsmen speak of the destruction of wild duck by pukoko, Mr Ross-Rar-elay wrote, lie did not at first connect those pukekos running about his oroperty with the gradual loss of his ducklings./ He blamed the drake, and closed him up, until gradually he lost all his ducklings.) Of the last clutch hatched of 12 ducklings, he now had but one duckling left. One day he actually saw a pukeko carrying a duckling away in its* beak. So far the writer had not interfered

with the pukeko, but, he •i’that there should be immediate steps 1, taken to obtain permission for the destruction of the birds.

Mr Missen (Auckland), outlined the efforts made by the .Auckland. Acclimatisation Society to keep the pukeko in check, while llr G. L. Day, spoke of reccut measures adopted on the hast, Coast, i . ,

It was stated by a member that farmers individually could apply for permission -to shoot the pukeko, but what was required was to have pukeko included in the license of all shooters.- The farmers were not the only ones who were losing through the depredations of the pukeko. If an open season was declared 1 , it should be granted not at the beginning of the ordinary shooting season when shooters could secure other more prized game, but towards the end'of the season when other game wa s becoming scarce.

It was unanimously decided that a copy of the letter from Mr Itoss-liar-clay should be sent to the Minister of Internal Affairs (Hon. W. E. Parry) together with a communication from the conference urging that the matter he given ’ immediate consideration.

MENACE OF STOATS AND WEJASELS Commendation of the Government’s action' in removing statutory protection on stoats, weasels, and ferrets, was well-merited, stated the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr W. E. Parry) at Rotorua recently. All three animals, imported into New Zealand many years ago to kill rabbits, were now pests of the highest rank in that they were responsible for the heavy toll on the native and game birds of the Dominioit. rlie hawk also came in for the Minister’s condemnation as a menace to bird life. “The previous week-end I spent in Foxton with a party of sportsmen,” Mr Parry , said, “and I listened to what seemed to be a well-justified attack, based' on actual experience, on the depredations of the hawk among pheasants 1 . 1 One sportsman came into- the hotel, in which lie stayed, and said that just as he fired at a. pheasant about to fly into some scrub, he observed a hawk aloft close its wings and dive on to the bird’s back. But tlitl hawk did not live to enjoy the pheasant, of which it Ijiad endeavoured to rob the shooter.

Like the stoat, weasel, and ferret, the hawk has an epicure’s taste for feathered meals, and has a high place on the sportsmen’s list of menaces.”