SPORT AND CRUELTY. PIGEON SHOOTING AND COURSING.

Evening Post, Volume LXXIV, Issue 78, 28 September 1907, Page 3

SPORT AND CRUELTY.

PIGEON SHOOTING AND COURSING.

THE ANIMALS PROTECTION BILL. INTERESTING DISCUSSION. Is sport always sport? A person fro© from conviction would hardly think so if ho had listened to the debate on the second reading of tho Animalo c"rotcction x>il] in the Legislative Council yesterday. The Han. S. T. George said consolidation of the existing law was necessary, but the Bill had certain defects, and somo desirable amendments might be made. The Bill would not be nccossary in a few years, because ground gamo would then bo non-existent. Parliament had protected tho natural enemies of the rabbit — stoats and weasels. It was a well-known fact that taese animals destroyed birds, and in order ,to protect our ground gamo tho ' statutory protection afforded stoats and weasels should be repealed. He. would move to this effect when the Bill was in committee. When ths rabbit became exterminated, thb stoats and weasels would ' not be satisfied with game and poultry ; they \vould in. all probability .ittecls lambs. H« objected to the- provisions oi the Bill regarding the sale of game, becausea dealer could only purchase from a sportsman who nad taken out a license to sell. This, to his mind, was absurd. People would not bo ablo to purchase game at all. He was not ablo to get out shooting now, therefore he was not able to purchase, and the only game ho obtain2d was that sent to him \>y his friends. TRAFFIC IN GAME. Tho Attorney-General : Do you approve of the traffic in game? 'Mr. Georgo : I do, to. ,a .very largo extent. " (Mr. Jcnkinson : Hear, hear.) T don't see why gartic should be- for oneclass, and ono class only, in tho community. He went on to say that a clause should be put in ihe Bill preventing Iho us© of live decoys. He also condemned the system on which coursiag was carried out. Genuine coursing, in free open country, with wild hares, was all right, but the competitive sport carried on throughout the country was cruelty of the %vorst kind. A hare was sent' to run for its life, and if it reached th© "escapes" it was sent out to race* again tor its iifo in a circumscribed area next day. He would' endeavour to havo this coursing in enclosures stopped ii ho could get a clause : nto the Bjll. Pigeon-shooting matches with Jive birds should also be stopped. In' this connection he knew -what he was talking about, because he had taken part in the sport, but as ho grew older he got more sense and more compassion. The Attorney-General : You want to prevent what you used to do. Mr, Georgo : Ye 3, I knew it was wrong and cruel, and _ I don't mind owning up to my sins in the past. Proceeding, Mr. Georgo said the wal*laby and the opossum should __ not bs protected. They did an imnience amount of damage on some islands. The Hon. J, E. Jenkinson agreed, with what Mr. Georgo had said, and he condemned the clause in the Bill which said game not protected was not to be taken or killed between 7 o'clock in the "evening and 6 a.m. He made a number of objections of a committee character. The Hou. H. TTeldwick hoped' the Bill would be sent, to a Special 'Committee. The Hon. J. P. Sinclair 'thought it would be advisable to have ' the ' Bill passed .it once. Any necessary amendments could be fully discussed in com-, mittee. THE ATTOENEY-GENERAL'S REPLY. I In replying, the Attorney-General said he had listened with interest to tho debate. Ho did not profess to ' have any special knowledge of the subiect, and he would have clauses drafted dealing with the points raised by Mr. George, so that they might be fully considered. Ho did not altogether 'approve cf tho suggestion that the Bill should be sent to a committee, because tho whole matter seemed to ba a battlo between exports. Regarding the limitation of hours for shooting (referred to by Mr. Jenkinson), he said ib was probably -due to tho fact that a wholesale slaughter took place on the first day of the season, and many sportsmen found that they wero too late when they got to tho place of the game. He could not coriceive any one outside _ of a lunatic asylum getting up at midnight to shoot gajno. An hon. member : Oh, but they do. Another member : Yes ; score 3of them. # The Attorney-General : Well, on this matter I a-m-in tho outer darKucss, but we know ,that some ldndb of sport, are akin to lunacy. Alpine climbing, for instance. In conclusion, ho said, in I order that ths suggested amendments | might be' fully considered, he would agree' to send "the Bill to the Statutes Pievision Committee. The Bill was then read a second time on the voices. *