OPOSSUMS.

Press, Volume LXV, Issue 19646, 15 June 1929, Page 19

OPOSSUMS.

TRAPPING IS A PAYING INDUSTRY. OPENING OF THE SEASON. Opossum trapping, it would appear, forms quite an appreciable factor in reducing winter unemployment; ibis year in North Canterbury about Kv men must be employed ; 52 licensee have bevn issued by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society and the State Forest Department have issued M permits to trap on their preserves. In addition licenses are issued by the Post Oihtes so that for the short season of two months the number of men engaged in the industry must be considerable. In North Canterbury the season opens to-dav and closes on August loth. The "license costs £2 10s. I'o sell the skins they must be marked with the official stamp or must be sold to a licensed dealer. An exception from the necessity of obtaining a license is made in the case of orchaidists on their own property. In addition to the license it is necessary to obtain the written consent ot the owner or controller of the property on which the holder wishes to trap. The State Forest Service in Christchurch. Mr W. Montgomery explained yesterdav, allot trapping blocks annually on a knowledge of the block and the amount of bush and the state of the stocking. No extra charge is made but the blocks are only allotted to men of whom the Forest Service approves. The areas being opened to trapping this year are the 13 mile bush at Springfield, and the bush areas on Mt*. Thomson and Grey. Hanroer which is one of the largest forest areas in the control of the Department, does not possess many opossums, and is not used for trapping. In the Wellington district a new plan is being tried out: the State Forest has been surveyed into trapping blocks of from 700 to 2300 acres, and these are balloted for by selected applicant* provided they have permission from adjoining owners to cross their land and have trapped in St~te Forests for two seasons previously. Th* successful applicant then acquires the rights for a period of five trapping seasons at a fixed annual few or block value based on the "take" from the block over a period of years past. Though the ballot svstem is not in usa in Canterbury there is a possibility that if it is a success in Wellington it will be extended throughout the Dominion. After getting his permit the* trapper hos nl«n to get a trapping license, both of which he must produce on demnnd to anv of the State Forest offioera. Opossums seemed fairly plentiful this year, said Mr Montgomery, but for some time past there had been reports that they were declining in numbers. This would be a pity aa they form quite a lucrative industry, and do no real harm to the bush. Skins sell at anything from 7s to 23s each, and would average about 12s. In a two months' season a man might take from 100 to 200 skins. The Forest Servioe makes it a rule that it only issues licenses to a party of two or more as there is always a danger that in the middle of winter a single man may be raujht in a heavy snowstorm or die from exposure.