Acclimatisation Affairs

Dominion, Volume 29, Issue 223, 17 June 1936, Page 13

Acclimatisation Affairs

Sir, —In your report ou the recent meeting of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society it was stated that some Marton fishermen had subscribed and donated £7 to the society “in appreciation of the good sport fishermen had had in Gudopps Lake,” but it is strange that the words “some years ago” were not added to the fishermen's appreciation, because those very fishermen and many others found the lake so understocked during the last two years that some of the fishermen, in an effort to restock, purchased and liberated some hundreds of good yearlings, about April—the fish being obtained from Stratford hatcheries and arriving per train and motor at the lake without the loss of a single fish. It is strange that these liberal-minded fishermen should be called upon—voluntarily or otherwise —to help restock a lake which did not yield an average of two fish per fisherman per diem during the last two years—when they pay a licence of £1 per annum for the Wellington Acclimatisation Society to store away into its accumulated fund of thousands, instead of spending it on a good hatchery like Masterton, where they could develop thousands of yearlings to stock lakes and rivers within its boundaries. The idea of the society placing hatcheries —and liberating fry—in Palmerston North and Taihape, is not only a waste of money, but a farce, ■ and we hope better management will prevail when the Hon. W. E. Parry's intentions to readjust boundaries and amalgamate certain acclimatisation societies come about, and the sooner the better for all sportsmen concerned. —I am, etc., MAKAWHARANGI. Wanganui, June 15.