ROD AND GUN

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 112, 13 May 1914, Page 8

ROD AND GUN

i — ♦ ACCLIMATISATION AFFAIRS THE WELLINGTON SOCIETY A REVIEW OF THE SEASON. The twenty-ninth annual report of tho Council of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, to be presented at the annual meeting, affords interesting reading. The total receipts for the financial year ended 31st March, 1914, were: — Balance to credit brought forward on Ist April, 1913, £253 12s Id; contractor's deposit, £10; receipts from all other sources, £2155 11s 2d, making a total of £2419 3s 3d. The payments amounted to £2568 Is 4d, leaving a debit balance at bank on 31st March of £148 18s Id. The liabilities, as at 31st March, 1914, were:— Sundry creditors, £106 5s 6d; bank debit, £148 18s Id. Interest accrued at olst March, 1914, £11 9s 9d, and contractor's deposit (game farm) £10, together £276 13s 4d. The cash assets amounted to £201 18s, leaving a debit balance of £74 15s 4d. Other assets acquired during the past year, but not included as cash assets are : — Pheasants bred at game farm and still on land, £50 ; ducks and fowls, £9 ; deer bred at deer park, still on land, £48; total, £107. The council regets to say that .the receipts from the sale of licenses steadily diminish. Fishinc licenses dropped from £763 8s 6d last season to £735 2s 9d; game licenses from £197 12s 6d to £161 18s sd ; deer licenses from £210 12s 6d to £157 19s 6d, a total shrinkage under these heads of £116 12s lOd. Sales of fry and birds reached £391 15s. There were no receipts on account of deer sold. The sale of land at Trentham presented to the society by Mr. John Barton, and sold by the society to apply to the building of a new hatchery at Masterton, produced £400, and < another extraordinary item is £li&, being insurance money received on account/ of the destruction by fire of the curator's residence at the game farm. Fines received amounted to £29 19s lid, partly from the previous year. Owing to the heavy expenditure on the new hatchery and ponds at Masterton, the society, for the first time for some years, has a small debit balance, but considering the heavy payments incurred for the erection of a new hatchery (£1342), the position cannot but be considered satisfactory. The society was unfortunate in losing by a fire, which occurred on 13th February, 1914, the curator's cottage ; but the birds and pens did not suffer injury. A contract for the erection of a new cottage was let on 27th February, at a cost* of £310, and the work is progressing satisfactorily. REARING BIRDS. The number of birds reared during the year was :— Pheasants 330, ducks 130. Now on farm:— Ducks 19, pheasants 100. GAME FARM AND DEER PARK. The statement of accounts for the gam© farm and deer park shows .receipts fTc-m sale of pheasants £186, from sale of boxes £4 Ib, curator's salary (Government subsidy) £100, and Tent of part of deer reserve £10, making a total of £300 Is. Tho payments amounted to £229 18s id, made up as follow :--Curator's ' salary £156. feed for birds £59 Us 3d, carting £8 10s, sundry small accounts £3 17s Id, boxes £1, insurance 14s, exchange Gs. The liabilities amount to £20 Is 4d, and the cash assets to £50 9s ,10d, £63 16s 6d of which was for sale oT pheasants. The balance was for Government subsidy. This leaves a surplus for the year of £130 11b 2d. There were aJso : at the deer park on 31st March about 16 deer calves bred during the year, one-half of them being the property of the Tourist Department. RED DEER. The increase of red deer calves was not quite up to tho average, viz., 16, of which eight are the property of the Tourist Department. It is proposed to liberate the eight, together with three obtained from Wairarapa, in the Shannon district, where a herd has been established for some years. The. deer at the deer park at> tho close of the year were as under : Warnham Park herd : 2 stags, 17 hinds, 13 calves. New Zealand herd : 2 stags, B hinds, 3 calves. Total 43. Owing to the growth of the scrub it is becoming increasingly difficult to muster the deer, and some steps in the direction of scrubcutting are urgently required. THINNING HERDS. Last winter the society managed to have a considerable number of the hinds killed on the Haurangi Reserve, and this winter the council hopes to have many more killed. The stalkers report that there are some good heads in the reserve; bat that, on tho whole, the herd is going back, and that the bush is overstocked. Some very good heads have been obtained in the Tararuas. For some years the society has been turning out deer from Warnham Parkon the Tararuas, and it is, expected that in the next few years some" exceptionally good heads will be obtainable there.' PISCICULTURE. Five hundred thousand brown trout ova were purchased from the Government Fish Station at Hakataramea and 250,000 rainbow ova from .Taupo. These were successfully hatched out at Masterton, and resulted as follow :—446,500: — 446,500 brown fry and 221,000 rainbow fry. Mr. Ayson, Inspector of Fisheries, entrusted to the Curator (Mr. Miller) the hatching of salmon and American brook trout for the aquarium at the Auckland Exhibition, and was pleased with the result obtained. \ The council was pleased to learn that the Government had arranged for a visit from the C'audian Commissioner of Fisheries (Professor Prince) to report upon the fisheries of tho Dominion. For several years past the New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies' Association has strongly recommended that this course should be taken. Professor Prince is now in tho Dominion making exhaustive research, and his report is awaited with much interest. NEW HATCHERY. The new hatchery at Masterton was declared open by the chairman of tne society on 20th September last. The building is of concrete, and, together with the curators cottage, ponds, etc., cost £1342 6s. The water supply is obtained from springs on the property ; the spring already tapped is ample for present needs, and about 424,000 gallons pass through the taps every twenty-four hours. For the new ponds which will be required it is estimated that a further supply of over a million and a-half gallons every twenty-four hours will be available. The society has been exceptionally fortunate in being able to et> oure a water supply of this nature, which cannot conceivably be polluted, even in the far-distant future. Tho hatching of ova in the new hatchery _was very successful last year. Since_ the opening the hatchery has been visited by experts and others interested in fish culture (including Professor Prince, Canadian Commissioner of Fisheries), and' the consensus of opinion is that it is one of the most up-to-date hatcheries in the Southern Hemisphere. Another pleasing feature about the iiatchxry is that .there, w no debt upon

it This happy result was made possible by the generosity of Mr. John Barton, of Trentham, who allowed a site, , which he had promised for a hatchery at Trentham, to bo sold and tho proceeds to be devoted in part payment of the new hatchery. FISHING SEASON. The fishing season on the whole has been a fairly good one ; reports from the various sub-committees go to prove this. It is gratifying to know that the systematic restocking of the rivers and streams in the society's district is having the desired effect. This restocking is being carried out, both by liberating yearlings and fryr— which is- the better plan is a much-debated point, and might well be discussed at the annual general meeting. While carefully looking after the rivers ia the various subcommittees' districts, the society has not neglected -the Hutt River and its tributaries, no less than 435(f yearlings and 185,000 fry having been liberated therein during the last three seasons. It is necessary that the Hutt and its tributaries should receive special attention, owing to the fact that it is the fishing ground o£ such a largo number of anglers. The council recommends that a strong and continued attempt should be made to make the Hutt River something like what it used to be.