AN EXPENSIVE SPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume LIV, Issue 89, 14 April 1923, Page 6

AN EXPENSIVE SPORT.

It was a wise move on the part of the Minister of Internal Affairs to call a Dominion Conference to consider the problem of deer. Not only is concerted action needed, but the Conference provided an exceptionally good opportunity of bringing home to those interested in sport, and to the public generally, the seriousness of the menace. Indeed, the menace is so serious that the Minister confesses himself rather at a loss to know what should 'be done to thin the deer out. There are three hundred thousand of these animals in the Dominion, and even the removal of all protection from them might not have much effect upon their numbers. Not many men have the skill or the time to shoot them. An attempt has been made to defend deer against the charges brought against them of destroying forests and pastures, but it carries no weight against the mass of evidence to the contrary, and delegates to the Conference seem! j to have taken the case as proved. The Conference decided to leave it to the acclimatisation societies, in consultation with the Minister and the Agrieulttiral and Forestry Departments, to' fix boundaries for areas from whichl nvotection will be withdrawn, and to take such other measures as may be necessary, and in the meantime no more deer are to be liberated without Ministerial consent. The objection to this move is that the acclimatisation societies are inclined to deal 'leniently with the deer. The Forestry Department-, which is vitally interested, will, we afe sure, do what it

can, and we hope • the Agricultural Department Trill remember the farmer s grievances. However, this is- at least an attempt to do something, and it may lead to an improvement. The Minister's idea is to protect the forests and the farmers, and at the same time bear in mind the interests of the Tourist Department. It may be very difficult to ride these two horses. It is suggested that deer should 'be retained in back country not suitable for any purposes but sport, but surely experience shows that such herds are liable to leave these areas and move into valuable forest or pasture land. The tourist argument seems to us quite negligible. The number of men who are attracted to New Zealand by deer-stalking alone must be very small. The 'whole revenue, direct and indirect, obtained from the sport is estimated at only -7000, and the amount of damage done at £180,000. This balance-sheet apparently does not include such items as the £1500 spent by the Otago Society in culling herds, a sum that is larger than the amount received in licenses for the whole Dominion. On these figures, and considering that only .005 of the population take out licenses, deershooting must be.the most expensive of all our forms of sport. The truth is that for the- sake of a few sportsmen successive Governments have allowed the country to be afflicted with a pest the eradication of which is going to be very difficult.