Where the money goes...

Press, 23 April 1980, Page 21

Where the money goes...

When the cost of their licences goes up by $3 to $l5 next season, Canterbury trout fishermen might well ask what they are getting for their extra money. Many probably do not realise that the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society will get only $10.75 of their $l5.

Fifteen per cent, or $2.25 of the licence fee, goes straight into the Government’s Consolidated Fund, and a further $2 is claimed by the South Island Council of Acclimatisation Societies for administration. The Council will also claim 50c of the $3 young anglers will pay for their licences. These have not

been increased, but weekly fishing permits — 1241 of which were sold last season — have been bumped up by 25 per cent, from $4.50 to $5.75. Like most other organisations of its kind, the acclimatisation society is faced with rapidly rising costs. It kept adult licences at. $l2 for three seasons, and even at $l5 they will still be among the cheapest in the world.

“We are certainly not a profit-making organisation, and if we put the prices up too much we would run into buyer resistance,” an executive officer of the society, Mr Brian Webb, says. Of the society’s gross income last year —

about $190,000 — $160,000 had been paid straight out. One of the biggest burdens on the society is its total administration costs, which rocketed from $59,000 in 1978 to $68,000 last year.

The society can afford only five full-time employees — Mr Webb and four field staff — and relies on the services of about 40 part-time wildlife rangers. Even so. the cost of salaries has risen from $13,300 in 1973 to $32,000 last year. Mr Webb says that while the society is registered as a sporting body, much of its work is for the benefit of the general public. “We

always err on the side of caution in field operations because of the astronomical cost of repairing damage to the environment.” The society also has to keep a strict eye on its finances. “Because we have trust money we are answerable directly to the Ministry of Internal Affairs. We are not allowed to operate in the red, and we get no Government grants,” Mr Webb adds. On the bright side, more licences are expected to be sold in the society’s area this season. Sales have iocreased steadily from. 7139 adult licences in 1972 to 11,325 last year.