WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19841, 31 January 1930, Page 13

WILD-LIFE PROBLEMS.

THE QUESTION OF CONTROL

A REPLY TO «MAMAKU.*

fcixcunr ™m« - B THE " ESSJ

[Bt F. E. Thobstos, M.A.]

fa me !f t X i a total "lie, of any wild life in New real policy reg- e .. bardl The fig-es published .in consistent wit*^; « of the soeie . that article activities in ties, and a part ox a pp e ars that ffbtnom tted by "_Maar- L S Aspect, too. In the ™ k VL years «>° deer have been billed bv five of the societies, ofl fSSiS?»ore Wiled. "Mamaku" an d tloarfß that SOffie TerJ . !cpnf deer in New Zealand the Sme'time ago. These Zf* SSffi by Mr Z, E. Muir, and .tartine for their inaccuracy and W6re nther reason. When Mr Muir fOF ThaUengef b~v Mr A. D. Kitto to ""a™ Sf Barnes of the actuaries P l rSUided him with those figures, Wh f t K how the estimate of 300,000 * in 19** was arrived at, and to S e Mr Kitto's figures wrong, he *:°Za to remain silent, although Mr Sf sho wed conclusively that the Jr«L were absurd, and that no aecur!&Tv ever took place in 1922, and Z figure was guesswork. When one JLt the vast areas with no deer, HTSrt be a very restricted area tn coataiß a quantity of deer said to be greater than the population of New advises the Minister for Interna] Affairs and for State Forests to talcs very definite action with their Departments. Whatever chaos there may he in wild life we can hardly asgnJna similar conditions to exist in a lober Government Department. Open Seasons. The writer makes the very definite statement in article No. 2 that there is so open season for shooting deer, and states that the reverse appears to be happening. Surely it would have been worth his while to investigate the matter properly before taking the controlling authorities to task for leaving conditions unchanged. Conditions are most certainly changed. If he will be good enough" to look up the various Gazette notices he will find that tins leason there is no restriction on the Dumber of heads which may be taken trader a license or sex or number of points. As far as the regulation goes in reference to licensees taking dogs in with them, he is probably not aware that this is a matter where the owner of the land may reasonably be expected to have a say, and dogs are not welcomed by the land-owners, and some even object to the shooting on their property. From the Societies' point of view, too, such dogs are inimical to the welfare of our unique native ground birds, and the Societies refuse to permit their entrance to forests on that ground. j Stalking Dates. Where did "Mamaku" discover that j the various stalking dates for the 1930 season were given? So far as can be aacertaind these dates have not yet been gazetted in the case of a number of districts. He complains, too, that He stalking season has been shortened. 1 wonder i£ lie fully" realises the wonderful kcojisisteiey of this. In some cases proteetioa lias been re-imposed for the darat&B of the stalking season. With - one breatl he urges the removal of all protection, and with the next complains that the period of the stalking season has not been extended, except in the case of Wellington and Feilding districts. To be consistent he should demand that the stalking season be shortened everywhere. Furthermore it is hard to nnderstand "Mamaku's" objection to the Southland Society balloting for tie wapiti and moose blocks. It seems reasonably certain that some of the animals at least will be shot. The object of balloting is to ensure success for the single lessee of the block. If there were the possibility of more than one going on the block, none would go at all, for who would spend the money required to go in if others might be there, calling waipiti and moose at so mneh per head? It would be a good plan to ask Mr E. J. Herrick how much it cost him to ahoot his moose, and Mr £. Dalrymple how much it cost him to *hoot his wapiti, so that applicants for the position of culling might know with reasonable certainty what daily wages *% might expect to earn at the currant rates for culling. Chamois and Thar, la mentioning chamois and thar, again has written upon a totter with which he has only a nodwag acquaintance. Had he put his «wat*d increase tables to work on «■* ehamoia and thar, he could have *jd ua the exact number alive at pres•saad made a scare about them too. *» * ia the licenses are altered to suit in the numbers of those £j*fr» having been increased from six r***aty; the rate has been dropped jj* *lO to £5; and the area to be "*ww has been extended to include £V«tole of the two Societies' districts "T"« of only a part. In view of this ~rf»<» to suit the new conditions, jvsfconld the Minister's position in Parliament be more difficult Wk "Mamaku" was not {r?** with these points. What does {J B*** 8 *** by stating that the virtues of t jZ™nwaitioa given by the Acclimasocieties remain to be proved! laSV* " so > bit is there any &«iL f °r the destruction of &»*?"* does not need to be proved? •possible to gaurantee that every Bteans a dead deer, but why quesfcralfef 7 1 5P ilo d at all that promises »«UUmi * t, hmtin S parties (trans-~-*W ?"*"» and ammunition free b yt| e wJr <lier ' s Parage) arranged %oti Jlr™ 1 on Societv did such good tJev »!, their fre e ammunition that r ' quested not t0 shoot an - v «*a e « 0 7ll lll , certain localities by the f. aad - In another case the gave £SO to the tt »duthi** a, ? pillg Club to help cut help the]? tte bush > as these would *** to !*!«+■ requested 6 a ny more deer in that from if 01 , and that request came state Forest Service. Aa f** o** 0 ** Culling Scheme, to be iLl he scheme of culling r^ma&f* I '. S ° "™™<* d is ketiont--* tne societies are col- •**■* w Wlmdrels » before the * aj * "it mm,"" beeil announced he •alts." !^f® us «s very disappointing reT y fairlv ask whether t!l « 4eer 0 , *C y wishes to wi P e out to Wde 'the elher this is camouflage eiet ies, wh Wß e^ mpai £ n against the so- * *ipe 0B » l \ a PP«ars to be his wish He ad nd B6t th « deer. '!** stXZ* *?.?«*>? convinced, too, *aa e jg? f lll D( st cull What a koiW i'*J lnot glve honol l r r 6 **. onil dne - Th e Kakaia s i *»7!i fnm with decadent S*«* W 8 * 3 by the Soci «v. The Ffchard .« guested to clean up «P dld ifc cheerfully, giva nnual search for the

head of heads, and this year that forest is to be reopened after having been put in splendid order by the stalkers. • "Mamaku" was perfectly correct in his statement that licenses were only issued to stalkers, but that does not aifect in the least those who wish to shoot deer at any time of the year other than the stalking season, so that whether a stalker elects to cull or not, others may do so, and certainly do. As far as the Wellington Society is concerned, its policy has been pminently successful, and the herd is well within bounds. But what does "Mamaku" mean by stating that the Department of Internal Affairs and the Acclimatisation Society rely on the stalker for their only cutting? This, together with his figures of culling for the various societies, is indicative of ii grave type of suppression of the truth. In the case of the Wellington Society, he shows that the revenue is £-10'2, and the expenses of culling £7l. The latter is the cost of the ammunition alone, and no account is taken of the rangers' time and expenses in the heavy culling undertaken, and in conducting shooting parties to certain spots. Within the last month a report reached the Society thit Apf-T wprp numprrms on the Ruahines in the upper waters of the Moawhango. Three cars set out, but only two deer were seen. No ammunition was used, so that this matter will not count according to "Mamaku." The actual expenses were £26, and a circle with a radius of 20 miles was well combed over. The total expenses of all these parties has amounted to a very considerable total. If the expenses were quite correctly stated at £7l. is not the Wellington Society be congratulated on culline nbout 2400 deer for this small sum? But honestly could it be done? This. however pales into insignificance when compared with the statement about Otago's expenditure. The revenue in the c<-Ne of Ota go is shown nt f 1 " 70 , and the expenditure as nil Appended i* an extract from the report of the Otago So-ietv for the year ended March. WW-. . j ~S , m P month- . %< y : «r Co»n«l e-.-ed j ilM d Hu^er r, ™i;r A h ' n JdP that the culline should be do-e Y 3 ■ \hP ruttir- season when the an.mals during the rut. n Rpr , orts are not ret to . Z Te A°y*» mimh'r tired. Previous over a Bum^er° f a .» n of p^lo l*-" 1 n Vrt£h *648 4s wa. contributed by is »<*. of wnien -u 17 P(1 bv your Cmir ,:i For "<"£ , jne more than it h»..T«h j"? Ti «.« w»5 "i Heea-e fee., the object beißft M pos'iblefto reduce the deer herd to

1 manageable proportions. There is no doubt j that as a result of this policy the deer are not nearly so numerous in the Society's dear forests as they were." A Conference in March. How does "Mamaku" reconcile this with his table, and with his statement that the societies have yet made no anounceraeut of their policy? Why should they announce their new policy when the whole matter will be fully gone into at the conference in March, when it is hoped that agreement will be arrived at between all the bodies concerned with deer. What were the- motives actuating "Mamaku" when he chose Wellington, North Canterbury, South Canterbury, Otago, and Southland as the five principal Societies of New Zealand? The humour of his choice will cause much amusement to those who know. \\hy was Westland omitted from the list? Because it showed a very high expenditure on deer culling, or w-as this fact not known to him ? But above all, we should like to know why a small Society like the South Canterbury Society was included in the list, when it has'practically no deer or forests. If the smaller societies were to be considered whv not Waitaki, which culled 3884 deer in two years? Would it not have made the case "startling" enough for "Mamaku" to have done (To Be Continued.)