GOVERNMENT BONUS PAYABLE ON SKINS.

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 274, 14 July 1932, Page 6

GOVERNMENT BONUS PAYABLE ON SKINS.

EFFECT IN ROTORUA. ' WELLINGTON, Saturday. Considerable encouragement to stalkers in combating the deer nuisance has resulted from the Government's decision to pay a bonus of ls 4d a pound on deer skins, according to a statement by the Minister of Internal Affairs, the Hon. A. Hamilton. The Minister said that since the publication of an outline of the new scheme his correspondence had very much increased, as many letters were received daily from prospective deer-

skin collectors, seeking further information of the eonditions under which the bonus was to be paid. "A fair payment," said the Minister, "is~ an attractive element of every undertaking in these hard moneyless times, and the bonus per pound offered on deer skins is certainly a criterion not to he eavilled at. "Without exception, the inquiries made are by men who are experienced rifle shqts — many are expert deer stalkers — who know much of th'e country where deer are very plentiful. If all these men who are interested eventually enter upon deer destruction, the pastures and scenic reserves of the Dominion now affected should have fewer onslaughts from the menace than in the past. "For some time we have had an ■ arrangement with the Defence Department to supply rifle ammunition for , deer killing at a cheap rate, but is is in case lots of 1000. rounds. If !I can persuade my colleague th'e Minister of Defence to supply the Internal Affairs Department with ammunition in small quantities it will be made available at the reduced price to men who choose to hunt deer for their skins. That would be a further incentive to the unemployed men to operate in the work. "I notice that in Christchurch an impression seems to have gained ground that apart from th payment of th'e ls 4d a pound bonus, the deer hunters will in addition obtain the price paid for the skins by the purchasing merchants. That, of course, is a totally wrong impression, as the eonditions provide that on payment of the bonus the skins become the property of the Internal Affairs Department, and will be marketed as at present by that department."