WANTON WASTE.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXI, Issue 9040, 25 January 1908, Page 4

WANTON WASTE.

A circumstance has come to light re- ' spectinjr the trout-fishing at Lake Rotorua which is not creditable to the responsible authorities. It appears that through.their shortsightedness or stupid conservation the law dealing with the taking of trout prevents the disposal of surplus fish in any useful way, and the result is that in the Rotorua district large quantities of trout caught by anglers are cast aside to rot. The private sale of the fish is not permitted., and the catches from the teaming waters of Rotorua are so great in the aggregate that it is impossible to get rid of the trout by gift. The only other way an intelligent official department allows for the disposal of the surplus catches is to throw the fish away. A Wellington visitor to Rotorua has written to an Auckland contemporary pointing out the scandalous waste of fish which goes on perforce at the great tourist resort. Here is an extract fiom his letter:—"lt would break your heart to see the waste of fish which is permitted to take place here. Feople in Rotorua soon tire of trout, and it is difficult for anglers to get rid of their bags; in fact, things have got to such a pass that it is hard to say who is the more generous, he who gives or he who receives. I was on the pier one day, and saw a" launchman endeavouring to make use of some splendid specimens offish. One person after another refused them, until finally he threw the pick of his party's catch on the whari and headed off for the open, saying, 'lt's a shame to see good fish like that going to waste!" To learn that such a thing goes on, is to make one wonder if our Government has a title to be described as "humanitarian." Surely, if there are good reasons to prevent the sale of trout —and it is difficult to imagine such reasons, seeing that the lake is overstocked, and there could be, if there is not, a limit fixed to the weight of trout bagged by any individual —surely the department might discover some means of utilising the surplus to advantage. Are there not hospitals and benevolent homes to which it might be despatched packed in ice? Are there not many people in a state of sßmi-starvation in the I city of Auckland to which the trout now wasted would be a luxury beyond the imagination of their dreams of luxury? It is a bad law that practically enforces such a state of things, as Las been described, and it is far from creditable to the Tourist Department that somo steps have not been taken to utilise the finny spoil which the anglers are only too eager to get rid of. (