SHOOTING IN SANCTUARY

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 969, 12 May 1930, Page 1

SHOOTING IN SANCTUARY

AIRPLANE USED TO FIND SITE TWO SPORTSMEN FINED For killing game in a declared sanctuary at Papatoetoe on May 1, Reginald Fred Burton and Daniel George Saunders were each fined £3 by Mr. F. H. Levien, S.M., at the Otahuhu Police Court this mornings and for trespassing on private land, a gazetted sanctuary, both were convicted and ordered to pay court cost 3 totalling £2 2s each. Sergeant Rowell said the defendants were found in possession of native game on a sanctuary at Papatoetoe. They had all the accessories necessary for shooting. Saunders had been up in an airplane and had noticed the possibility of good sport, and had noted the site. In answer to the magistrate the sergeant said the extent of the reserve was 40 acres, and it was surrounded by gorse. He said he considered it was a premeditated affair as tracks had been previously cut through the gorse. Mr. O’Donnell appeared for defendants and said they had been shooting game in the locality. Both lived at Onehunga and had been told that good bags of game were available in the locality. Saunders had bred and reared pheasants and would be one of the last men to shoot game on a sanctuary. They had made inquiries and obtained an extract from the 1930 Gazette, but the sanctuary referred to was included in the 1929 Gazette. They certainly shot the duck, but there were no notices pointing out that the place was a sanctuary. Saunders was an old sportsman and felt his position, but he recognises ignorance was no excuse.