Deerstalkers feel deprived of say

Press, 6 June 1988, Page 16

Deerstalkers feel deprived of say

Recreational hunters’ needs are ignored in the restructuring of quangos announced last week, says the New Zealand Deerstalkers’ Association.

“The only voice of hunters to the Government has been silenced with the axing of the National Recreational Hunting Advisory Committee,” said the association’s president, Mr John Bamford. “We have bodies responsible for fish and game birds but nothing for big game animals. One would think deer and other wild animals did not exist from the way the quango restructuring has been done.

“There appears to be no provision for hunter representation on the new Conservation Authority and boards. Perhaps this Government thinks that by ignoring wild animals, and those who hunt them, big g§me and hunters will

just go away. I can assure the Government that this is not the case,” Mr Bamford said.

“One quango must be responsible for wild animals on all lands. That body should be the hunter voice to Government and State-owned enterprises. We want to co-operate with these departments but we have effectively been ignored in the socalled restructuring.”

Mr Bamford said there was a growing suspicion among hunters that the Conservation Department intended to instigate hunting permit or licence charges to maintain its very existence. “If hunters are ignored and have no say in their sport they will not pay. If the user must pay, as is the basic philosophy of the present dollar-ob-sessed Government, the user must have a say,” Mr Bamford said.