OUR DUMB FRIENDS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 51, 28 August 1925, Page 7

OUR DUMB FRIENDS

A PROTECTION MEASURE POWERS OF THE MINISTER. The Animals Protection Bill initiated by the Hon. Sir Thomas Mackenzie in the Legislative Council was discussed j briefly in the Council yesterday, when the second reading was taken. The mover said the Bill provided that it birds or animals were on the permanently protected list they should not be transferred to the open list by the ! Minister of Internal Affairs. Protection should be .revoked only by legislation. Th© powers given to the Minister were such that the Act might just as well not exist. The present law was largely nullified by the authority given to rangers to take protected birds or animals. The authority should not rest entirely in the hands of the Minister, and Parliament should have some say. A return should be made to Parliament annually of the number of permits issued for the taking of birds. He had had experience of birds being sent out of the country in largo numbers. He advocated the setting aside of Stewart Island as a sanctuary, and said he was sure it woijld lead to much good. An Act passed in England provided that birds should not bo kept in cages not large enough to enable them to live in a proper natural manner. In seconding the second reading, the Hon. G. M. Thomson said he did not see how the white-tailed deer, which were a pest, were to be removed from Stewart Island unless guns and dogs were used. The Bill was read the second time.'