THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1915. FISHING IN THE WAIKATO.

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 4, Issue 38, 18 May 1915, Page 2

THE Pukekohe and Waiuku Times PUBLISHED TUESDAYS AND FRIDAYS TUESDAY, MAY 18, 1915.

FISHING IN THE WAIKATO.

"We nothing extenuate, nor set down auaht in malice

In our issue of Tuesday last we printed tha copy of a letter from an Ohinewai resident to Mr F. C. S. Lawson dealing with the right of settlers to catch native fish in the Waikato river, and encouraging that gentleman to persevere in his campaign against the puwerß of the Acclimatisation Society. For some time past we have Intended to deal with this matter in our leading columns, but the pressure of other subjects has always prevented our doing so up to the present. Our readers will remember that not very long ago two settlers were prosecuted, convicted and mulcted in fine? and costs fur netting mullet in tha Waikato river, a practice that has been followed from time immemorial by the Maoris and by Europeans from the day the first white man eettled on the banks of the river. It is probable that not one person in fifty knew that to do so wbb to commit an unlawful act which could be followed by severe pains and penalties. It is an offence against the gams laws made at the behest of the Acclimatisation Societies: but, as Mr Larson's correspondent says, "that people should be made criminals for taking food that Nature provides is a scandalous phame, and a disgrace to the country and the Government.''

Because the Acclimatisation Society has placed a few trout in a river to which they had no claim that could in any way be compared with that of the settlers on the banks the fat and succulent mullet which make their way up the river in thousands in the summer and autumn are to be no more available as food for people who are entirely cut off from any oiher fish supply. For as they du not take the hook they must be netted, and netting means a prosecution at the behest of the Society. 13 it any wonder that Mr Lawson, fired at so iniquitous a state of things, aims at sweeping away a law at once harrassing and unnecessary? But would it not be as well if Mr Lawson and those who are with him went a step further and moved to sweep away also the Acclimatisation Society, or at any rate to so curb its powers that it would no longer be a thorn in the side of those who have to make their living out of the land and also to feed the useless beasts and birds so freely introduced at the whim of members who are often profoundly ignorant of the habits of their proteges. The introduction of feathered pests like the London sparrow and the Californian quail have cost the farmer untold thousands. Indeed it may be said that the damage done by the latter in spreading blackberries might be better expressed in milionß. And it iB not very long ago that an attempt, happily frustrated, was made to plant the lakes and streams of this province with the Cauadian wild rice, a curse that blocks ihe water-courses in its native lands, and in our milder climate would run riot and do incalculalbe damage.

Farmers and landowners have j grumbled and growled ior years, but have done nothing. It is time i they made a move to free them- ! selves from an intolerable nuisance. 1 We hope Mr Laweon may, in the words of his Ohinewai correipond-1 cnt, "go in and win.'' Support Town Hand funds bv attending Concert, Wednesday, May 26th, Premier Hall, Pukekobc.— Advt.