ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3137, 16 July 1917, Page 8

ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY

VAJUGI'S JLATTEIiS UISCI.'SSKD. A. meeting of tho Wellington Zoological Society, over which 3lr. leathers presided, wns held recently. A letter to tho president 'from Ernest Joyce, who hud ohargc of tlio dog tennis in Sir Ernest Shiicldeton'B latent' expedition to t.lio Antarctic regions, stated that .before leaving Now Zealand ho gavo directions -for two dogs (Oscar and Bilchio) to bo presented to tho Wellington Zoological Socioty, that tho famous <togs might bo homod in tho Wellington Zoo. Ho wroto affectionately of Oscar, tho faithful dog that was his corsmnt attendant during Ihe expedition, and that oil one occasion saved his lifo and tho lives of two or three other men, and intimated that he would liko to l-jceivo a report on tho condition of tha dogs, expressing a dosire for a largo photograph of Oscar. Tho meeting resolved that tho society would meet Mr. Joyce's desires; that it '■would ask tho City Council to provido more worthy aMommodation for the dogs than has yet been allotted to them ;, and would honour Oscar, the best, dog of Shaekleton's Expedition, and Osiuan, llio principal dog of Scott's Expedition, with appropriate collars. Messrs. F. jVleadoweroft, A. 10. Donne. 6. Christie, and W. W. Corbeft were elected to be members of tho society.

It was reported that sinco the previouVnieeting animals, in addition to the dogs aforementioned, had been presented per the tho society to tho Zoo by the following donors:—Mrs.-N. M'Nully,-pne pink and grey parrot, one cockatoo; Mr. M. K. E. i'ollard, one seagull; Mr. A. J. Bennett, four fautail pigeons; "A Friend," olio Norwich hen canary; Mrs. JFurch, 010 yellow-crested cockatoo; aiid Miss Phillips, one hedgehog, from Johnsonville. The nieetjng spokt) highly of the ' Zoo Standard Magazine" and of the benefat tho society was deriving from it, and voted two,'guineas towards its production. Congratulations to tho secretary of tho society oh'his election to the City Couu'cil and t* His Worship tho Mayor ot ■Welliu"toa on his elevation to tho Companionship of -the Order'or St. Michael and St. .Oeorge weru heartilv passed. The nesting considered that the tact that of ihe twelve ostriches that have at times tern presented, by or through tho society,!!? the Zoo only lour—three liuilcs aud 011s'"hen— are alive, seemed to indi'cate iwel for improv.enwnt- in the treatment .)f ostriches in tho Zoo; and resolved to ask the City Council to d2«l with tlio matter. Mr. Crewes expressed • the opinion that the aniwer rccentlr given by the City Council to Councillor Castle's question rcnrdiiig penguins was extremely .unsatisfactory; and that tho fact that of four king .jenguins that were placed in tho Scottish Zoological Park, three years ago, three,! when reported, on recently, were alive and healthy, seemed to indicate that. :he treatment of penguins in the Wellington. Zoo had been unsuitable. Iho mee;mg concurred, and resolved to ask the City Council to try to get an improrement effected in tho management ot thii"'department of'the Zoo. 'Iho president and secretary of the socie:.r wero appointed to approach tlio GoA-'niment and to try to stimulate the Mbister of Internal Affairs to get somo mire New Zealand birds for the Zoo.

Dm the motion of Mr. Crewes it was rrfolved-that tho City Council do asked to 1 try to arrango for tlio City Engineer aifl Mr. Ayson, of the Dominion Governniriiit's Fisheries Department, to confer aiid effect an improvement iu the Zoo aquarium, to protect it from ruin -when tbp city's Bupply of water is affected l>y <jiy seasons, or by tho bursting of a main p'tyc, or by any other accident outsido tlio aquarium. Mr. Crowes contended ttat tho cat-fish that for a long time wero an interesting feature of theiKjuarium ought not to have heen lost, ••iiihl that tho loss|of tho young salmon ;that disappeared at a very interesting steo of their growth was regrettable. i The conditions prevailing ou K-apiti .'lsland wero .mentioned, i>ut iu the absence of Mr. Lockwood, who has generally taken n prominent part in tho society's discussions of the management of that no definite resolution was moved. Ono or tv;o other important questions were raised, l>nt as there was no probability of immediate agreement they wero held over fur future consideration.