TAUPO SHOOTING

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 107, 8 May 1941, Page 5

TAUPO SHOOTING

SANCTUARY VIOLATION

ROTOKAUA AND ROTOAIRA OPENED

(0.C.) TAUPO, Wednesday. I It is not possible to easily reconcile the Minister of Internal Affairs' j statement in last Fridaj'"s "Herald" I with the facts as far as they are j known here. Mr. Parry, in making I the first public announcement that I Rotoaira and Rotokaua were open J territory, is reported to have said j that the two lakes and the land i within a mile of the shore of each had in previous seasons been declared excepted areas for shooting. ; In the Rotorua licenses for 1940 j Rotoaira and Rotokaua were specijfically mentioned, but both names were omitted on the 1941 license. ;The clause that shooting on or in ;the vicinity of any sanctuary was prohibited was retained in the 1941 license. Up until the clay before the openling, sanctuary notices were still in position at Rotokaua. but on the i Friday they were removed and on 'Saturday morning a privileged half !dozen were shooting the birds on 'the lake and peppering away at! i those which, driven from other, I parts of the district, flew to what: 'they had by experience discovered was a .safe haven. . j i In the case of Rotoaira it has, throughout the years been main-1 taincd as a preserve for the native! race. It seems indisputable that a sanctuary should be continued as such, and if for good and sufficient reasons it is to be declared no longer a sanctuary, ample public notice should be given to those interested. {If a preserve is to be thrown open! lon the eve of the shooting season! by the simple process of removing the notices there can be no case for! (the creation of these breeding l jgrounds and safety zones for wild I •fowL l

The question arises, too, as to whether the proper legal steps were taken to make available these places, and if they were not, what is the position of those who were privileged to enjoy the unusual opportunity of shooting on lakes that have hitherto been preserved.