The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1873.

Southland Times, Issue 1726, 11 April 1873, Page 2

The Southland Times. FRIDAY, APRIL 11, 1873.

Acclimatisation, as a term, may be something of a novelty, but the practice is very old. Solomon's importations of " ivory, apes, and peacocks" supply perhaps the oldest instance on record of the actual practice of the art. They serve to illustrate, in subordination to other and higher themes which the biography of that prince of ancient sages suggests, the universal fascination which this special pursuit has in all ages exercised over the minds of cultivated men. Passing by a host of similar examples from the classical writers, the student of more modern history will find, in the writings of Maeco Polo, and later, in the works of those who may be described as the travelled litterateurs of the ELiZABrTHAN period — selecting at random one name from that illustrious roll, Sir "Walter TRaleigh — a thousand confirmations of the idea that the desire to " replenish the earth and subdue it" hy the distribution of useful plants and animals wherever they will thrive, however reasonable it may be, and however defensible on purely argumentative grounds, must be regarded much more at the expression of an instinct peculiar to mankind, than as a conclusion arrived at by the aid of pure reason alone. Should confirmation of this be demanded irom the annals of more recent times, and of more local application, it would be easy to appeal to the case of the unknown, but manifestly enthusiastic, acclimatiser who first let rabbits loose on the sandhills between New Eiver and Eiverton. That man, if he thought at all, must have been capable of realising in imagination the injury which the depredations of these funny and amusing, but highly objectionable little rodents, would be likely in course of time to cause to the growing crops of farmers and gardeners. Yet in this case the '' acclimatising instinct," as it may be called, had its way, in spite of the more sober dictates of reason, to the effect that when the " balance of power," as now found established in the regiom of Nature, is disturbed, evil is sure to follow. These principles would have pointed, in the case of the rabbits, to a simultaneous or shortly subsequent introduction of stoats and weasels, and other similar creatures, whose special mission seems to be now-a-days to keep the rabbit of the older countries within endurable bounds. This, however, is mere reasoning, while the liberation of the rabbits was an all but instinctive act. Accordingly the rabbits increase and multiply, while the stoat, weasel, and even the delicate African ferret, all of which may in time be employtd by the settlers of New Zealand to repress the ravages of the enemy, have not yet appeared upon the scene. It is interest ing to observe, as any one who rides in the morniDg or evening through the sand-hills may readily do, how the system of Nature, when interfered with, provides something ia the way of compensation, evidenced in this case by the incessant efforts of the buzzard, or large native hawk, to reduce the juvenile rabbit population of these regions — efforts all too unavailing, however, as the farmers know. The same prevalence of this acclimatising instinct, or sentiment, as some might prefer to call it, over reason of the pure utilitarian kind, is shown in the history of the trouble and expense that have been incurred in the introduction of English \ song-birds into Australia and New Zealand. Yet it mny be questioned whether this unselfish reason, after all, is not sometimes its own reward. " The song of the skylark is now frequently heard in the environs of Nelson." So writes a correspondent ; and what colonist is there, of British birth, who, on reading such words, does not wish that, for a few dewy hours at least of summer morning, he mi^ht also be there to hear. It is not inconceivable that a matter even so trifling as that appears to be may have decided tbe destination of many a family of that class of immigrants — not by any means the leaat to be considered — whose resources permit them the choice, on what may be called sentimental grounds, of a place of abode. Putting all utilitarian considerations on one side, however, we find the " acclimatising instinct" developing itself in the attempt to accomplish an undertaking, which, if successful, will undoubtedly rank ai one of the noblest victories of man over Nature, aud one which, as the present generation of living men, who must carry out the work, can scarcely hope to reap much benefit from its successful consummation, may be regarded, in the best sense, as the triumph of an idea. Tbe salmo salar, prince of all edible fishes, is

found, strange to say, only in the seas of the northern hemisphere, though in both the Atlantic and the Pacific oceans, between which no practicable passage in northern temperate regions exists. To confer upon the salmon, umble to live in the temperature ofthe equatorial zone, the freedom of our southern seas and rivers, is an enterprise which haa not 1 been considered beyond the resources of modern science to accomplish. The attempt made some yeara ago in Tasmania, while it certainly was not an absolute failure, can as little, up to the present time, be pronounced a success. Yet it has been valuable, as showing that the ova of the salmon can be transported alive from England and hatched in our southern streams. The subsequent success or failure of the experiment, which cannot yet be known, depends very much on local conditions, affecting the suitability or otherwise of the new habitat chosen for the illustrious stranger. These conditions, taking a broad view of the case, are much more likely to be fulfilled by some of our New Zealand rivers, notably the Waiau for one, than by any of the various streams of Australia orTasmania, which have been suggested as suitable for this purpose. It is therefore with unfeigned pleasure that we read of the shipment, on the 21st January last, by the Agent- General, of 120,000 salmon ova, in the clipper ship Oberon, from London. Mr Howabd, curator of the Southland Acclimatisation Society, has gone to Dunedin to receive the Utago portion of this preciuus consignment, and a coasting steamer has been chartered in readiness to convey the valuable freight at once to the BlufF, for instant transmission by rail to the Southland Society's breeding ponds at Wallacetown, where everything is now in readiness for its reception. There are few, we fancy, who will not unite with us in wishing that the Oberon may have a prosperous voyage, and that, whatever the result of the Tasmanian experiment, this may prove successful, so that Southland may fairly earn the honor of introducing the salmon to New Zealand waters, and possibly also to all the seas of the southern temperate zone.