DEER BATTLE

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 125, 30 May 1930, Page 11

DEER BATTLE

A BOOTMAKER TO HIS

LAST

NOT TO WiLD LIFE

By "True. Sport."

The controversy which has taken place over wild life originated in the £. advocacy of export coutrol of wild c- life affairs. At the-same timo it was | 'd advocated that tho control should be 3r as far as .possible) a single control. It ie was pointed out that, besides the aeeli;e matisation societies, various Governic ment Departments participated, and the ;r least expert of- them ail (Internal AfsL fairs) .occupied the administrative box seat. ••■-.; Constructive critics contended that the Department of Internal Affairs is essentially non-expert. On the other sulc, it was Vatcd that the Department could consult exports. The critics replied that consultation with outside experts did not constitute expert control; that a wild life control meant a control with field knowledge—a wild life staff, not a clerical -control that nrght have a specialised man" in ono district, and another specialised man in another, but which in. itself did not and could not think in tevms of wild life. NOT CTJEABLE FROM THE FEET. During the. disputation the Department engaged a new specialist, but the root objection remained, so far as its critics :were concerned.' They said it could: not be altered by small changes beginning at the bottom. ~ The Department of Forestry came into, the argument because, in training and in sympathies,, it was necessarily much closer to wild life than the Department of Internal Affairs. A ehanipionhip of .the Department of forestry was by no means essential to a criticism of the Department of Internal Affairs. On behalf of th'e.latte.r, an attempt was made to show that the_ whole storm was a Forestry-fanned affair, but the.events of the.last.six months have so discredited that idea that it need not be discussed.. In view of the same events,, a claim that, the long-standing Departmental arrangement is "ideal" also needs •no discussion. The Government, forced.to listen to criticism, manoeuvred to put the deer question into the forefront, so that the wild life control issue is, for the moment, ..approachable- only through deer. But it will be noted • that the Canterbury Sheepowners' Union, in approaching, through the same channel, tho question of local conjrol, proposes a "board on which the Department of Internal Affairs is not represented. Docs that Canterbury decision imply : some childish dislike of an "ideal" Department, or. does it merely mean that the sheepfarmers wish to collaborate, with those- Departments .whose business it- is to know, something practical of the matters in hand? .. ■•■ DON'T OVERLOOK CONTROL ISSUE. When the deer business is settled, some step will probably have been made towards a real wild' life control. If;, not, dissatisfaction.. will continue and will grow. . . ■■■Reverting''from the general issue of wild life control to the doer question, recent history shows that the Government, in pursuance of itS cautious policy, set up a conference that was intended to be a recognition of public opinion, but which was also intended to decide nothing. The argument that everything was all right in the best of all possible worlds was abandoned; the"! ■Minister, of Internal:, Affairs'" admitted "tho menace; the' conferenec'_ listened to the admission and prescribed no remedy. So the initiative was left in the hands of the Government, which perhaps means in the hands of the Minister of Internal Affairs. He is one °of the Ministers who, in the new Government, has not changed paddocks, i ,He is still . Minister for Internal Affairs.- ' What will he do^-or what will Cabinet do? There is talk of an advisory board. Will its per-sonnel-boa recognition of the principle that wild life questions are for wild life men? Will its powers be real or illusory? Will a beginning be made to satisfy the constructive criticism that cannot be frowned down or explaned, away? . The Canterbury movement towards a provincial board control of deer, referred to above, will interest everybody who is watching for signs of tho new times, whether ho bo a supporter" or an opponent of local home rule in such matters. The resolution of the Canterbury Sheepowners' Union, which was unanimous, is as follows: — • That the Government bo urged to place'the control of deer in Canterbury in the hands of a board composed of one representative each from the Crown Lands Department, tho Forestry Department,' the Canterbury Sheepowners' Union, the ; Canterbury Farmers' Union, and the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, •; to be presided over by an additional representative of the Forestry De- , partment, and that all work to bo done be carried out under the direc- ." lion* of; the Forestry Department, following" the lines of the policy to be laid down by the' board. Meanwhile, Ministerial (or Cabinet) action is awaited. . ■ ■ ' •