CANTERBURY ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Press, Volume LXIV, Issue 13102, 29 April 1908, Page 8

CANTERBURY ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING

The •forty-fourth annual general meeting of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society was held last evening. There was a very large attendance, over which Dr. Moorhouse presided. REPORT AND BALANCE-SHEET. Tho balance-sheet showed; that the revenue for the year was £991 4s 4d, and tho expenditure £975 ss, showing a credit balance of £15 9s 4d. Tho revenue from fishing license- was £303 7." 6d, as against £801 los bst year. Games licenses showed au increase of £13 ls 6d. Tho amount received for fines increased by £7 13s, and the sale of fish, fry and ova increased by £2 lis sd. The report stated that tho decision of the Society that licenses to shoot two stags each should) bo granted to il-essre R. Heatoi- Rhodes, H. D. Buchanan, Dr. Moorhouse, and' G. Gerard was given effect to, and the results had beon -set forth in an excellent report furnished by Dr. Moorhouse, and the respective measurements of tho heads obtained wero placed amongst tlie records. Tho Council had recommended to tho Government, and hcou-ses had been isued t-> allow Messrs Rhodes, Buchanan and Gerard to obtain two heads cadi during this season. The Canadian geese tliat were liberated at Glen-mark had successfully bred. The delegate should- be specda_y Lnstructred | to bring tho matter of netting at | mouths of rivers before the next Confoience, with a view of having a united effort mado to influence the Govern- ] mont to make tho necessary rcguLatr.ons. _ line Council had placed Mr Douglas iro the position oi tish. diistributor, and appointed a furtiher ranger for tho North Canterbury district. Tho Council wdslied to place on record the great as-ietanc-o given to it by police officers. Fishing licenses wero issued during the 1907-8 season as fellows, the figures in parentheses being tihose for tho previous -eo.»n: —Adult_,s_ge_: sou 682 (662), half-season 91 (lit;; ladies and* boys 258 (246); total, 1031 (1019). The report and balaJice-«-bect wero adopted without d'ieous-?ion. STATEMENT BY THE CBLAIROIAN. Tho next (business -was tho eleotion of members of the Council, but before tho ballot papers were collected tino 3'resident (Dr. Moorhouse) made a staitemejnt, in which _he dealt wiitia soveral rn.ii-a.ppreihensic.ri_ which ho said ho knew existed. Dealing firso with £200 fixed deposit, which; wns earmarked for the mrtroducition of 'big game, he _aid tlhat ho was awaro that there was 6omo dissatisfaction on ac-c-p-unt of 'lili'is _urn boing 1-ociked up, tho feeling among tho dissatisfied being that it- should be used for the purpose of fisih cuituire and buiildin-s hut®. He ei'+ireJy dfeagreod with that view. Tlio cultivation of fteih. was only ono of tho many objects of the Society, and if tliey confined themselves to fish thoy would bo neglecting a largo part oi their bounden duty. Further a considerable portion of the money was given for _ the express purpose of introducing big game into the district, and could not bo legally diverted. As long as he was a member of the Council he would most strenuously oppose interference with tho deposit for any other purpose than that for which it was oar-marked. (Applause.) It had come to his knowledge that statements had been made ou .numerous occasions that ono reason why the retiring Council was eilcc-Be-d last year was that they were supplied with two voting papers each; and voted twice. He thought that this was the meanest accusation that oould bo mado against any body of men. Anyone who accused tho gentleman who distributed tho votes of distributing two vot/v<» to people, in order that they could vote twice for themselves was beneath cOsUtempt. THE NEW O)UNCIL. Tho following were elected members cf tho Council:—Messrs R. J. Laverv, W. H. Price, W. J. Nelson, W. T. $£enry, W. T. Rillens. C. J. Sloman, A. L. Ndchill. H. A. Bruce, F. W. Hunt. P.'?-J. Delacour. G. B. Ritchie, W. H. Townond, G. F. White-side, J. Sutherland, L. A. Shand. M. OBnen, H. J. L. Taylor, Professor Blunt, Dr. Mccrhouse, and Dr. C. M. Anderson. • GENERAL. Dr. Davies (Kaiapoi) moved an 'amendment to the rules to provide that the holding of a license should bo sufficient authority to the holder to vote at meetings of the Society. Th© motion was seconded. The motion was lost by 43 to 35. On the motioni of Mr Whiteside a resolution was passed expressing appreciation of tho manner in which "the curator, and Mr and Mrs Rides, senior, had attended to tho gardens. It was decided to mal;o a presentation to Mr and Mrs Rides, whose work in the gardens was a labour of love. A bonus of £30 was voted to Mr Chas. Rides, the curator. A long discussion took placo in regard to the -payment of rangers, and a suggestion was mado that their salaries should bo increased, and more rangers appointed if possible. Mr Edgar F. Stead suggested that instead ot in-crea-ing rangers' salaries the Society.' "should pay on piecework. yTho Society could continue "" to pay wages of 7s .per day, but aiso give the rangecs so much for every conviction. If this were done, it would probably bo found that the rangers would require no increase in salary, but their work would be done much better than at present. As to the district being too large for tho staff, this was not supported by experience of actual working, in New York-State, America, where rangers travelled over 200 miles to ob-nm Tliat was attributed to tlie fact that tlie rangers received tho fines inflicted on the persons convicted. He had been impressed with tho efficiency of the game preservation 'laws of America, and he would bo glad to see tha Society here working oiv similar lines. Mr G. B. Ritchie thought that tho Government f.hould trive more assistance to the local societies in. the matter of game preservation, aaid so con* "ssrve a valuable asset.

It was decided to vote a bonus of £10 to Ranger Hope. On tlie motion of *jt. iloorhouse it was resolved to reoonimend the incoming Council io establish a eub-comniit-teo to look after the interests of the herds of red deer im the district', tlie sub-committ*"? t-o include .aessrs R. Heaton Rhodes, H. Buchanan, and G. Gerard. ■'

It iras decided to'dira-w the attention of the Inspector of Police to the fact that cylinders of iile<caJ dimensions n-f>re being xjoastrnctcd in a certain di«triet.

The secretary was authorised to appcin* assistants to the rn-Ttgers' to act an tho first day of the '.shooting season.

The President intimated to n member that a complaint in regard to a pnrsnn canvassing country mrirbers in the interests of the Aah.bu.rton Society was. receiving attention.