Page image
Page image

3

H.—2

gardens has been particularly good. No. 3 bowling-green has been rekerbed with 9 in. by 3 in. totara planking. The new grass tennis-courts arc; promising well, and it is hoped that the greater portion of them will be in use next season. The demand for more tennis-courts and croquet-lawns is very pressing. The new grass tennis-courts will meet the former demand, while the latter will be partially, if not wholly, met by utilizing a portion of the ground at present occupied with the grass tennis-courts. Nothing has been done during the year towards the construction of new asphalt courts, owing to the scarcity and high cost of cement and tar. The new sports-ground area has been sown down in grass, which, considering the light nature of the soil, is taking well. Water-supply. —The number of leaks in the wooden mains requiring attention during the year equalled four and one-third per working-day. Forty-three new consumers were connected to the supply during the year. The work of replacing the wooden mains with iron pipes is well under way,the reticulation of the principal streets having been completed. Drainage. —During the year sixteen new connections have been made to the main sewer. The filter-beds have received the usual attention. Numerous blockages in the main sewer have required attention, owing to the injurious effects of sulphur on the cement and brickwork of pipe-joints and manholes. Native Camp: Royal Visit. —The Department's staff carried out all work in connection with the water-supply to the camp, a work which entailed the laying of 800 ft. of 3 in. and 200 ft. of fin. piping with all necessary taps and fittings. Electrical. —During the year sixty-seven new consumers were connected to the mains, and a vcinappreciable addition to the day load was made in the form of motors and domestic appliances. The bindings of the transmission-line were renewed throughout the entire length, as the old bindings had been giving way whenever high winds occurred. During the year 640 321 units were generated at the power-house. The difficulty in supplying the demand for energy has now become acute, and further applications for supply are being refused until the auxiliary supply can be established. This, of course, is a temporary expedient pending completion of the more elaborate enlargement scheme, the chief feature of which will be the erection of a large power-house on a fresh site. The preliminary work in the matter of taking the land having been completed, a commencement will now be made with the work. In the meantime a considerable amount of work has been done during the year in the matter of rearranging the reticulation of the town mains, assuring the better distribution and more equable balancing of the load throughout the town. Acclimatization. Ranging. —During the past year the acclimatization branch of this Department's work has been considerably extended in the scope of its activities. An assistant ranger was appointed early in the year, and the whole of the large area of the Rotorua Acclimatization District has been well ranged by frequent visits of the ranger and his assistant. A number of cases of breaches of both Game and Fishing Regulations were investigated, and action taken in the, Magistrate's Court in eighteen of these cases against fifteen different persons. Convictions were secured in sixteen cases. The total amount of fines was £42, and the total costs to defendants was £30 os. Bd. = £72 os. Bd. The thanks of the Department are, due to those police officers in the district who so willingly gave their assistance for the cause of acclimatization during the year. Red Deer. —The various deer herds in the district were, culled where necessary during the year, and the increase noted in the growth of numbers was a factor in increasing the number of deershooting licenses this year. All these herds are comparatively quite young compared with those in Otago, Nelson, and Wairarapa districts; and though nothing in the way of a record has been secured, either for weight, length, width, pr number of points, compared with heads from those herds mentioned, they have provided sport for a limited number of sportsmen for some years, while some fine good royal and imperial heads up to seventeen points have been secured. Last season no young fresh strain of deer calves were liberated in the local herds, the only five available from the game farm at Paraparaumu being presented to the. Auckland Society to form a new herd in that district. This season eight deer fawns were mustered, and will be liberated with the various herds in the district. Last season's deer-shooting closed on the 26th April, 1920, and only one license-holder failed to obtain his two heads. Fourteen stalkers got their two heads each, and six more got one head each, a total of thirty-four heads. These do not include deer shot by the owners or occupiers of land who exercise their right under the Act. This season the number of licenses available for deer-shooting was increased to twenty-five for the herds (Rotoiti, Galatea, Okareka) in the Rotorua-Whakatane Counties, but no limit was placed on the number of licenses available, for the Mahia Peninsula herd and the Waikaremoana herd, both in the Wairoa (Hawke's Bay) County, which are better-established herds. The other herds being fostered by the Department at Tokaanu, Kaimanawa Mountains, Mount Edgecumbe, and Waimana Gorge are increasing and doing well, amid good feed and shelter. Sambar Deer. —The two herds of Sambar deer (Cervus unicolor) that have been liberated near Mount Tarawera and Taneatua-Ruatoki are thriving well; and two or three of the original stags, which were well-grown animals when liberated, have been seen carrying massive antlers. These deer were all captured in the big flax swamps of the Himitangi-Foxton district by the Department's ranger, where they were very numerous. In a few years' time they will provide good sport and venison for deer-stalkers. Feathered Game. —The season for feathered game opened on the Ist May, 1920, and closed on the 31st July, 1920. It was a very successful shooting season altogether, average bags of pheasants

Log in or create a Papers Past website account

Use your Papers Past website account to correct newspaper text.

By creating and using this account you agree to our terms of use.

Log in with RealMe®

If you’ve used a RealMe login somewhere else, you can use it here too. If you don’t already have a username and password, just click Log in and you can choose to create one.


Log in again to continue your work

Your session has expired.

Log in again with RealMe®


Alert