THE ZOO

Evening Post, Volume XCIV, Issue 114, 10 November 1917, Page 3

THE ZOO

MR. CREWES AND COUNCILLOR-. - • FROST. In a long letter to The Post commenting upon Councillor Frost's reference at the City Council to The Post's report of the Zoological Society's meeting, the Key. John Crewes states that he did not need any assurances'of the Reserves-Committee's confidence . in the curator of the Zoo. nor 1 does he see what relation such expression, of confidence has to a report in which the curator was not even mentioned, or to a question as to whether the tinio had not arrived when a superintendent should be appointed to give a much wider scope to the usefulness of the Zoo than has been, or perhaps could be, given under the council's present system of management-. " The informal discussion, to which your report referred, began in a question as to the probable effect of theI raising of the charge ' for admission to. ! the Zoo, and what the attitude of the i society should be to ?t under certain possibilities : it touched several other important matters which the members of the .society thought . it right to mutually exchange opinions on, before the meeting closed; and it was resumed and.continued, by some members of the society afterwards.' Now. to show the legitimacy of the discussion, in which I took part, and the irrelevancy and unwisdom of Councillor Frost's speech.' I will ask whether Councillor Frost himself approves of the increased charge for admission; and whether if we' find the increased charge reducing the efficiency of the Zoo the worthy councillor, whom we delight to honour, will not lead, in the council or in an appeal to the electors, a band of his faithful followers to repeal the bylaw which supports the increased charge? Another question that I ask is whether a citizen or any band of citizens has not-a right to discuss the question whether the council's attempt to keep seals and penguins in the Wellington Zoo has 1 not resulted in deplorable failure. A few years ago Councillor Barber suggested" th.it the City Council should keep seats s,t Lvall Bay, rather than ia .the Newtown 200. Shall citizens who have watched the fiasco at Newtown not propose a trial of Councillor Barber's proposal?" Mr. Crewes continues that he does not.want to hear about the matter, but he wishes to work with other citizens to abolish the hideous eyesores, noxious smells, and conspicuous failures that prevent, the Zoo from becoming, from one end of it, U> the other a beautiful garden of delight. He refers to one of theEe " blotches." the section between the sea-lions' pond and the corporation nursery. Another matter that he feels strongly about, and which hehopes that the Zoological Society will submit definite proposals on to the' council, is the relation between the Zoo and the Petherjck- Museum. 'He is told that the council spent £10 on a plaster cast of the first young lion born in the Zoo and had the skin cured to rover it; but the representation of the ion has not appeared. This matter, he urges, should be investigated by citizens.