ACCLIMATISATION.

Press, Volume I, Issue 13, 17 August 1861, Page 1

ACCLIMATISATION.

Ouit readers are probably not generally aware that a j society has been established in London called the Acclimatisation Society. Its object is to introduce into England, and to acclimatise there, such birds, beasts, and Fishes, from other parts of the world, as may be able to live and propagate under the various conditions of country and climate which England presents. One feature of the Society, we understand is, that it proposes not to confine its operations to England, but to extend them to the colonies, and to foreign countries, by means of corresponding societies, or members ; and to set on foot a system of exchanging with any country the various animals which each can give to the other.

This is a subject which is peculiarly interesting to Canterbury. From the day when the first emigrant ships left the English shores to the present time, Canterbury has carried on an endeavour, desultory indeed and unsuccessful, but never wholly relinquished, to naturalise iv our new home many of the birds and other animals of England: deer, rabbits, hares, pheasants, partridges, and multitudes of smaller birds from the English hedge-rows, have been shipped at great cost, and, with the one exception of rabbits, we believe wholly without result. "We believe that, except perhaps a solitary specimen or two in a cage, none of the birds introduced have lived; and the whole of the considerable sums expended on the experiments have been lost.

The gentleman to whom the Australian colonies are most indebted for his efforts in this respect, is Mr. Edward Wilson, of Melbourne; and the skylarks which were sent out in the Gananoque, were a present from that gentleman to Canterbury, and were taken from the extensive aviaries in which Mr. Wilson kept his birds in a state of preparation for the voyage. That experiment also failed; a matter of the greater disappointment, because the consignment of birds shipped about the same time under similar conditions to Melbourne, from the same aviaries, was remarkably successful.

We believe it is unnecessary to use any arguments to establish the desirableness of making steady and combined efforts to enrich our collection of wild animals in this country. The efforts already made prove the interest taken in the subject. But there is one condition peculiar to this Colony which may afford an additional stimulus to our exertions; we mean the remarkable deficiency of New Zealand in wild animals of all sorts. There is perhaps no country in the world the natural zoology of which supplies so little to the subsistence or enjoyment of its inhabitants, as New Zealand. Of game there is almost none; quail, formerly plentiful, have nearly disappeared; pigeons and kakas are to be found only in the woods; ducks, eels, and wild pigs complete the list. And if there are so few useful animals, those which add to the grace enjoyment of life are scarcer still; of singing birds there are but the tui tui and the bell bird; neither of them .ever heard, except in the neighbourhood of the forests. No country therefore would so greatly gain by the introduction of animals from other parts of the world. If however "\ve turn from land to water, the inducements to engage in this enterprise are greater still. Our great snow rivers are absolutely without fish, and yet so far as we can learn they are peculiarly adapted to become the homes of those classes of fish which supply human food in the greatest abundance. At present such rivers as the Waimakariri, the Rakaia or the Rangitata are worse than useless, obstructing travelling without assisting navigation. Filled with salmon they would supply tons of the most delicious food to ourselves, and furnish a valuable export to the neighbouring Colonies. Mo.st of our readers have probably paid some attention to the singularly interesting experiment which has been carried on

for the past two or three years, with the object of introducing salmon into the southern seas. The Superintendent and Provincial Council of Canterbury passed a vote two years ago, appropriating £500 to the experiment of bringing salmon into our own rivers. Mr. EitzGerald, at that time in England, did not spend the money, considering that as the experiment was in the act of being carried out to Tasmania, it would be prudent to wait: if it succeeded we could readily get the fish from Tasmania ; if it failed, we could be guided by whatever mistakes might be made, and could improve on the experiment the following year. The following year, however, was one of financial collapse, and the matter of necessity stood over.

It is clear then, that there is a great field for enterprise in this and the other Provinces of New Zealand; for if the work be entered upon earnestly here, it will soon be taken up all over the colony. Hitherto it has been the task of some few individuals on whom the expenses have fallen with undue weight. Mr. Guise Brittan has been the chief promoter of the work of introducing English singing birds, and we have none of us forgotten the attempt made by Mr. Cracroft Wilson on a scale of oriental magnificence to introduce the game from the North of India. Mr. Watts Russell went to a considerable expense to bring out singing birds in the Westminster in 1858, almost all of which died. That these individual efforts have failed shews that co-operation, association, and organization are wanted. That it can be done, there is ho doubt. That it is well worth doing is equally obvious: _nd when we see such large subscriptions on a list for introducing a few couple of hounds and a few &b%t to hunt, a matter in which a very small part of the population can have an interest, we cannot doubt but tne work of peopling our vast estate of waste kn_B%ith wild game would be joined in by the whole coim_iunity. Nor is the work one which should be left wholly to private enterprise. The Government has already recognised its importance by the vote for salmon, and would no doubt do so again if it could afford it; indeed it is not a single, but an annual vote which is required. There are three parts of the subject which require separate and careful management; failing any one of which the experiment will not succeed. First, the animals have to be obtained and prepared for the voyage. If, as usual, wild, they have to be tamed, and accustomed to confinement, and to artificial food: failing this, they will certainly die on the voyage. Great care moreover must be taken in the selection of young specimens, and in the due proportion of the sexes; for the object is not to introduce a few individuals for a zoological garden, but to naturalise the animals in a wild state here as in their native country. The second step is the management on the voyage; and this is the stage in which almost all past experiments have failed. It has been made clear to those who have paid attention to the matter, that it is indispensable to procure a poop-cabin in order to bring out birds with any chance of success. When placed about the deck, even in sheltered places, they die. It will be found necessary to have the services of a man wholly engaged in attending to them on the voyage, and to place them in privacy with a properly regulated temperature. The third point is the reception and management of the immigrant animals here, and their emancipation into the wild state again. And here we have no hesitation in saying, that nothing short of a regular establishment will succeed. If the work is to be done it will take some years to accomplish ; that is, to turn out so many couples of each sort of bird or animal, that the race will permanently perpetuate itself; and the engagement of at least one man to tend the imported stock will be a matter of necessity: indeed if salmon are to be introduced, the work will be only com-

menced when the first fish are successfully landed. The work of communicating the fish from one stream to another until all are fully stocked will be one of time, and will require artificial breeding ponds similar to those in Scotland, and in France from which the Government of the Emperor is peopling the streams of that country. It becomes a question what is the best agency by which this work can be accomplished. We suggest that, though aided by tho Government, it can only be successfully undertaken by a Society. A popular government is not necessarily composed of naturalists, or of sportsmen or poachers; and it is to these classes, the men who have a natural love for the ferso j naturae, a knowledge of their habits, and the keen desire to capture them, which real sportsmen feel, it is to these classes we should look for men who will take a practical interest in the matter, and will devote time and attention to its accomplishment. The work is one which, like all scientific labours, must be a labour of love to be successful. But Government aid is essential not only in giving grants of public money, but in passing such laws as may protect the game from destruction until it has become sufficiently numerous to be given up as the prey of the sportsman, and afterwards so to regulate its pursuit as to prevent its extinction. The question whether it would be desirable to form an Acclimatisation Society in Canterbury is one which might well be discussed at a public meeting.