LAND AND WATER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2722, 16 May 1906, Page 54

LAND AND WATER.

The following interesting extracts are made from the twentieth annual report of the AshbuVton Acclimatisation Society: — "Your council in again meeting you have. to report for the first time a falling-off in the licenses sold and the income of the ■ociety. Last season the amount received by the sale of licenses was. £183. This season it is only £172 17a s -6d,. which muefc fie accounted for by the increment weather _ «>perienped during. October, November; and December. La&t se&son ■■ was a bad one,' but this year the w«»ther was .worse. The falling ' off is 12 in , men's -licenses, 5 in women's, and 6 in boy's; men'e licenses " for half season ere increased by' 10. - -- ■ ■SJour^ council have again turned out 25,000 rainbow trout-r-15,000. \n the Maori Lake* to supply the Ashburton, and 10,000 In "Lake Heron to supply the Rakaia. There « *- -great difference of opinion as to the ' advisability of continuing this expenditure. Some hold the • rainbow trout go to »3» and never return. It is true that very few rainbow trout over 2ilb have been taken, about five rainbows of and onje of- 51b are all that are known, to have lieen caught, but a good many of 241b and under have been taken in the Rakaia, IL&ngitata, and Ashburton. Mr Ayson reports that when he applied for rainbow ova in America they stripped cockeyed nlmon, which ova produced rainbow trout when hatched in Christchurch. He further stated when the rainbow attains the age of three years it goes to sea and develops into soekeyed ,ealmon. Of late yeara since rainbows have been turned out the "greeniweks" are much more plentiful. Is the greenback jt atlmo quinat, a sea trout, soekeyed salmon, or Lochleven- trout? From *he absence of spots, the difference in form of the fish io the brown trout, and the deep red of the flesh it is certain it is, not a brown trout. As the society has four specimens stuffed for the Exhibition in Christchurch ther may help to psttlc the question as to what the greenback is, which is . what we novr want to know, and not what it is not. Shags are too numerous in the river, but only one head; has been , purchased 'shot tslow Mount Somers: the bulk of the heads purchased were killed in roofceries in the hills. Your council jJjbs raised the price from Is to 2s for shays killed in the lower nart of the rivr, leaving >the rate Is for those killed in +h3 jror^fe, atsd 6d for eggs. . . . The three fishing camps have been visited by the secretary and csa-ataker; the huts and fences are in <jood order: the plantation made by the County Council at Rangitata t* a failure, apt many more than 30 trees living, and the new tr^es put into the Ashburton plantation wrll require to be filled where dead. This ha=> been reported to the County Council, and their ranger is to see to it. The three camps are a great convenience to local and vi«itinff anjrlers. Doer are so plentiful in the Maungakawa Raneres, Waikato, that Natives" have abandonded old cultivations, on acount of their depredations. In the old days, the kaingas would have been w*ll supplied with venison, which would hive considerably depleted the numbers now existing. Twenty yeara ago the Native owners of Maunga- ; Jcawa considerably outnumbered the d<v»r; [ to-day, there are 100 deer to evcrv adult : Native owner, -writes the IVforrir.sville correspondent to the Hamilton Times, who njpnrions that a fpw years ajro a man shot 300 hundred Heer in one season. 'Tie Rev. Mr Oit Warcpa, act/v] as referee in the Wai\wra-Clinton match on Saturday. Mr Orr is an ex-Scottish international.

A nartv con«sistipp- of M-e^rs W. Ark*»r, .W. Riddoll. W. Hill A. Fearn. and R.

Kinnaird. went to + lio Waiau for a few da*™? and baso^jd 250 kakas and pigeons an*! rw© r>i«rs in +hr*>n days. W« ha.ye to acknowledge receipt, of an advance cony.. of th« Cttslogne of Specialties of 3£epsrs -Hardy Bros.. Alnwick. England. This ■work is so full of information th»t one who has never handled a rod would speedily become -An expert , angler by carefully following ■the directions given. The hints -are valuable {n. man? respects. Otago anglers will have no difficulty in discovering who is the contributor ef the " Hir.+B JLbcut New Zealand." as " (Zeo. M. M." is fairly well known. Full rnformation *<5 ifiven in ■ the catalogue concerning rods, baits of all kirtls. The illustrations are numerous, and the coloured plates, showing artificial flies, are works of art. England is threatened with an invasion j)f Arjst-<»'lan !a<ly- soimmei* /sane tHe W^^t-9-.in&ter Gazette). Orm of th^ir number,

Mice Annette Kellermann. did not quite succeed i n wining out , Captain Webb's :, record, butcher plucky attempt to swim the ' Channel proved a serviceable advertisement, and she succeeded in securing a long swimming engagement at the London Hipr;odrome at £50 a week on the strength of it. That is what has excited all the other Australian lady swimmers, and there is a goodly list of them. Island Bay fishermen are securing large hauls of warehou, the season for which has just commenced. From 1500 to 2000 head are being eecured daily, and tl.e hauls will probably increase with the advance of tho season.

A party of three Alcaroa sportsmen shooting at- Lake Ellesmere recoutly secured 183 ducks and 20 odd swans.

The Scotsmen resident in Wellington have decided to form a Caledonian Society. A private telegram from Maj-tmborough states that at the coursing meeting there M. Taylor's Lobelia- divided the Martinborough Cup with Laburnum. A tri-car wae partially destroyed by fire on the North road on Sunday (says the North Otago Times). One of the taps connected with the oil reservoir had shaken loose, and allowed the oil to run down the framework, when a spark from the explosion box ignited it. The flames drove the driver from his seat, and - the- woodwork and tyres were rapidly destroyed.

WHALEBOAT RACE. SYDNEY, -May 9.

A race bstween the five-oared whaleboat I champion crew from the American cruiser Baltimore and the Metropolitan Fire Brigade was won by the firemen by 20 lengths.