"NOT A MENACE"

Evening Post, Volume CXV, Issue 148, 26 June 1933, Page 11

"NOT A MENACE"

DEER IN THE BUSH

(Special to the "Evoning Post.")

PALMEESTON N., This Day. /

The repeated;-suggestions that dee* liberated in the forests of New Zealand are- menacingthe cxistenco of these few remaining bush, areas was given a spirited rebuttal at the meeting of the Manawatu: sub-committee of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society on Saturday, evening. .' ■:

Mi\ AY. J. Haase, a member' of the Wellington" Society, stated, that'the council was going, very fully into this matter this year. ~ At'the large re'serv© at Hauraki there was- a large forest area, and the Government claimed tliat the bush was being gradually destroyed by deer, and other "wild stock. However, the forest was-a' birch, one with very little- undergrowth, and it hid been in that condition- for at least twenty years, said Mr. Haase, quoting ' the authority of many deer stalkers who frequented Hauraki. .Other stock at large there, excepting .goats, were equally blameless, and the wild pigs even exerted a beneficial effect, he said. "We.seem, to be up against strong opposition, and the Department of Internal Affairs is firmly against us,'' he added. "We have been blamed for the whole condition of the forests, and we have got to take some definite steps either to.prove that the deer are- responsible or to deny; the allegations. As far as our own' society "is concerned we have definite records that the ,deer are not re'spottsible.'' > V; .

Mr. B. W. Priest; (Palmerston North), said that from, observations he had made on recent trips he could say that the deer were- not doing any damage at all. ' ' . . .

Mr. A. Andrews, Manawatu ranger, said the deer remaining at Hauraki. could not by any stretch of the imagination be held to constitute a menace.

Other members were as equally emphaiEic that deer were far less numerous than formerly.. v ' ' .