ACCLIMATISATION.

Auckland Star, Volume LIII, Issue 142, 17 June 1922, Page 17

ACCLIMATISATION.

NEW ZEALAND EXPERIMENTS. INTRODUCED ANIMALS AND PLANTS. SOME SERIOUS MISTAKES. The introduction of animals and plants in New Zealand has unfortunately been carried on'in a very haphazard manner, ■with disastrous results in some cases. When Captain Cook's interesting record of his voyages first excited in Great Britain an active interest in New Zealand, these beautiful islands, endowed with a wonderful climate and fertile soil, capable of sustaining almost every variety ~pi life, offered a virgin field* for tire introduction of the very best species of mammals, fishes, and birds; but the Government in the early years of the colony's history, and, indeed, even up to the present time, have not realised the necessity for exercising direct control over this important branch of immigration. Acclimatisation of animals and plants has been left to the irresponsible action of individuals and societies whose members, in many cases, were very ill-informed regarding the habits-and value of the animals thoy brought into the country. The results of this policy are set out. in a very exhaustive work by the Hon. G«o. M. Thomson, M.L.C." F.Z.S., published by the Cambridge University Press.

iMr. Thomson, in proof of the erratic policy followed in the past, points out that" the various acclimatisation societies "which have been operating during the past fifty years have often warred against each other: "One district protects hawks because they destroy rabbits and small birds, another destroys them because they attack game. One district imported stoats and "weasels in order to cope "with the rabbit pest; another destroyed them wherever found, because 'they threatened the total destruction of the native bird life.' The ignorance of natural history displayed by some of the organisations who assumed responsibility for the -work of naturalisation is illustrated by the fact that even as late as 1016 several of the societies were contemplating the contribution of a jointly-raise/l sum for the purpose of introducing Australian swallows into the country, presumably to cone with some aspect of the in6eet I rouble. They seemed to be unaware that two species of Australian swallow visit our shores nearly every summer, nnd that "natural agencies have been trying to achieve, on a very large scale, what some of the acclimatisation experts proposed to do on a small scale with very little prospect of success." PIONEERS OF ACCLIMATISATION. Crozet, who took command of the French expedition, after the death of Captain Marion dv Fresne, at the Bay of Islands in 1772, appears to have been the first European who attempted to introduce into the country useful plants. In the narrative of his voyages he states that he formed a garden on Moutouara Island, where he planted all sorts of vegetables which he had brought from the Oape of Good Hope, the stones and pips of fruits, wheat, millet and maize, and had the satisfaction of seeing these seeds 6prout and show vigorous growth. He also planted stones and pips wherever he went on the mainland. Prior to that, the Maoris and their predecessors in these islands had brought from Polynesia, the Hue Gourd, the kumara, the dog, native rat, and two species of lice.

Captain Cook, on his second voyage, in 1773, when he landed at Dusky Sound, and later at Queen Charlotte Sound, besides leaving various animals, sowed several kinds of European seeds, mostly garden vegetables, s ome of which are known to have survived, <t>ut most of them were obliterated by the native vegetation. To Captain Cook belongs the honour of introducing the first animals that were acclimatised of set purpose. He liberated five geese at Dusky Sound, but nothing was ever heard of the birds again. Captain Cook also liberated a ram and ewe at Dusky sSound. but these did not survive. Captain Furneaux, in 1773, and Captain Cook, in 1777, liberated male and female pigs. It is believed that these were the ancestors of the long-nosed wild pigs in the South Island. He also introduced goats, which became established. Some fowls, introduced by Cook, thrived. As a result of his efforts it is believed that pigs, goats, and perhaps fowls, the potato, cabbage and turnip were naturalised. Sealers and whalers, at a later period, also introduced European plants and animals, accidentally, or deliberately for their own benefit. When Christian missions were established the cultivation of plants of food value and edible fruits became systematic, and exotic tree s of great size still exist in the North which, were

planted through their agency. Numbers oi weeds came into ihe country inadvertently at this time. Then followed the era of systematic colonisation, and with it the desire of the settlers to introduce into the new land the animals, the birds and the fishes in which they had taken delight in their old Homeland. THE RABBIT PEST. This process of naturalisation, spasmodic and unscientific, has caused no end of trouble. Among the most destructive of animal pests has been the ralbbit. It is not known who was responsible for its first importation, but raibbits are known to have existed here as far back as 1838, having been imported from New South Wales. A Lapiiun Kuck Keeno, R.N., a Nelson runholder, imported black and silver grey rabbits, and these were deliberately spread by himself and other settlers. In the Otago settlement in 1849, rabbits were let loose in various places.- Sir George Grey's name appears on the records of the Canterbury Society, in 1866, as having presented a niiDjfber of silver-grey ralbbits, which were kept until they had multiplied and then distributed far and near. The disastrous character of this pol'cy is indicated by the fact that the carrying capacity of the Rurwood Station, in Otago, fell from 110,(100 sheep to 40,000 through the depredations of this pest. Hundreds of miles of good grazing country in Central Otago have been reduced to a desert, aid the liv>s • caused by rabbits to the Dominion has been estimated at a million pounds sterling yearly. There are now signs of the rabbit disapnearincr from some districts which were formerly badly infested. The reasons for the decline are obscure, but the damage caused by the rabbit pest has ibcen increased by the introduction of stoats, weasels and wild cats, which have preyed upon the bird life of the country. ACCLIMATISATION OF BIRDS. Among birds the house sparrow is ihe most execrated, but Mr. Thomson shews that nearly all the early acclimatisation societies took a hand in introducing it by offering rewards to immigrants who succeeded in landing a healthy pair. Although the sparrow does destroy many insects, its depredations on grain make it an enemy for the destruction of which local bodies are empowered to levy rates.

Somewhere about 130 species of birds, including cage-birds, have been introduced into New Zealand, but only 24 species have become truly wild, namely, the mallard, Canadian ' goose, black swan, common pheasant, Chinese pheasant, Australian swamp quail,-Calitor-nian quail, common pigeon, little brown owl, skylark, thrush, blackbird, hedge sparrow, Australian magpie, rook, starling, Indian minah, house sparrow, chaffinch, redpolc, goldfinch, greenfinch, eire bunting, and yellow-hammer. The record of failures is much greater than the successes. INTRODUCTION OF* FISHES. The his/tory of the acclimatisation of fishes, as narrated by Mr. Thomson, is a record of persistent effort, in the face of many failures. The' introduction- of salmon and trout from Scotland and Ireliind was due, in the first instance, to the perseverance of Mr. Youl, of Melbourne, w*io succeeded, in 1564, in landing living ova in Victoria and Tasmania. The progeny of the trout thus transferred from Dorthcrn to southern waters have since been liberated in . many New Zealand rivers. For nearly half a century large sums of money have been spent in the endeavour to stock our rivers with the Atlantic salmon. The ova has been hatched out and the fry liberated by the hundred thousand for a succession of years in the same rivers. Tlie fish have grown to a certain age. and then gone to sea in the normal manner, but from that point are lost. The cause of this disappearance remains a mystery Mr. Thomson describes in detail the measures by which our rivers and lakes have Ibecome stocked with brown trout and other valuable fishes. EVOLUTIONARY THEORIKS. The author observes that the isolation of New Zealand made this country a specially favourable field for testing the principles formulated in "Darwin's Origin of Species." Mr. Thomson states that in common with other young biologists he anticipated that new forms would spring up in this country under the altered conditions. That perhaps we would here see the rise of new varieties, which would become "fixed," and would soon rank as "species" distinct from those "from which they were descended. A long enough period has elapsed to form certain conclusions on this subject, and the chapters in which the author describes the effect of the naturalisation of exotic animals and plants on the indigenous fauna and flora of New Zealand are among the most interesting of this instructive and very valuable book. The results of many exhaustive researches are i?tated in clear and non-technical language, which makes the work acceptable to the general reader as well as to the scientist.