ROD AND GUN Problem Of Setting Code For Outdoor Sportsmen

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 11

ROD AND GUN Problem Of Setting Code For Outdoor Sportsmen

[Specially written for “The Press’' by JAMES SIERS.}

“It is quite sobering to reflect that if all those who at present trespass on private land or enter Crown Land without permits were to be apprehended and prosecuted, the magistrate’s court system of this country would he brought to its knees.” This is part of a statement issued by the New Zealand Federation of Rifle, Rod and Gun Sportsmen, and which has been circulated to acclimatisation societies, Federated Farmers and the New Zealand Police Department.

The Federation of New Zealand Rifle, Rod and Gun Sportsmen was formed in 1963 as a provisional committee and immediately made itself felt on the Arms Amendment Bill. Going before the Statutes Revision Committee it won a number of important alterations to the legislation. Because of the federation’s action, sportsmen can now own and use a pistol as long as the barrel is more than 12fin from breech to muzzle.

The federation was responsible for having removed from the proposed legislation a clause prohibiting the importation of weapons other than those known as “sporting,” which was unnecessarily restricting. Anyone wanting a different rifle, which in the eyes of the police was not a “normal sporting” one, could find it difficult to obtain a permit, and the federation

was able to have this clause removed.

The next important step was to fight a clause in the Forest Amendment Bill giving Forest Service employees authority to confiscate arms from those breaking forest regulations. The only person now with this authority is a stipendiary ranger. New Approach Needed During this time the federation prepared a submission and went before Federated Farmers to put the sportsmen’s point of view in a paper titled “The Farmer, the Sportsmen and the Law,” which showed the need for a new approach to the organisation of rifle, rod and gun sport.

The latest paper is to bring up to date the philosophy of those responsible for the forming of the federation and its attitude to the role of outdoor sportsmen in New Zealand.

The paper states: “The specific problem of trespass was taken as being a most pertinent example of the present unhappy situation in which farmers, land-control-ling authorities, the law and organised sportsmen all find themselves. It is a situation in which the farmer does not receive adequate consideration or redress against the trespasser; in which permit systems employed by landcontrolling authorities to regulate and restrict the entry of the public are honoured for the most part in the breach; where the law has failed to find a workable solution; where the organised sportsman has received virtually no support nor recognition for trying to maintain a code of ethics; and in which the law-breaker is discouraged only to the extent of petty fines.” Fundamental Issue The statement continues: “After reviewing many aspects of the present state of affairs the conclusion was put forward that instead of calling for massive policing action to enforce restrictive law, the best approach was to generate a law-abiding, ethical and self-disciplining type of outdoorsman, aware of his responsibilities to landholders, the community and to his fellow sportsmen. Where a person chose to act in defiance of the law, sporting ethics and elementary rules of good conduct and decency, then he should be deprived of the right to take part in his sport for a period of time to be specified.” According to the statement, the fundamental issue is that the outdoors and its use are in no way different from any other organised sport. In the professions, members largely control their own affairs, setting rules of conduct and disciplining members for breaches. Similarly this principle applies to sporting bodies throughout New Zealand. One cannot arrive drunk at the New Zealand Grand Prix and expect to be allowed to compete; or punch a referee in a game of Rugby; or race a horse without meticulous observance of the rules, so why should not a rifle, rod and gun sportsman be called to account by elected administrators? Sobering Reflection “In fact,” the statement continues, “the rifle, rod and gun sports present the most difficult problems with respect to enforcement of law, rules or conduct, and to police adequately the activities of something like 150,000 freeranging fishermen and hunters lacking the desire to discipline themselves, would require a far greater army of officialdom than New Zealand could ever afford to maintain. “It is quite sobering to reflect also on the fact that ,if all those who at present trespass on private land or enter Crown land without permits were to be apprehended and prosecuted, the magistrate’s court system of this country would be brought to its knees.”

The statement says that whichever way the problem is viewed, the present system is inadequate.

Before describing the new system of outdoors administration, the statement says it should generate the type of responsible sportsman who is basically qualified in knowledge of game law’s and firearms handling so that he has a right to use firearms and to purchase fish and game licences.

The “system” would consist of a national body composed of representatives appointed by all the major factions of rifle, rod and gun sports who would be asked first to submit for consideration the required minimum standards for rules and ethics. National Body Proposed This national body would be available to interested parties such as Federated Farmers and all dealings with the Government and its administration would be carried out by that body. It would be directly responsible for the affiliation of all the major sporting factions —for assuring their representation at its deliberations and for taking account of the particular needs and interests of each group. At the next level would be the sporting groups, most of whom have been in existence for a long time and these would each appoint representatives to the national body. The groups would of necessity include the following: The North and South Island Councils of Acclimatisation Societies: the National Rifle Association: the New Zealand Smallbore Rifle Association; the New Zealand Gun Clubs’ Association: the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association: The Arms, Armour and Cartridge Collectors’ Group and other groups whose members are concerned with the ownership of firearms or angling aspects governed by law. “By far the most important function of this structure lies in the field of education and in the generation of a type of sportsman who is going to act in a responsible manner. It is not designed to act as a dictatorial court, nor to usurp the power of the law,”