NATIONAL, OR LOCAL?

Evening Post, Volume CXVIII, Issue 78, 29 September 1934, Page 8

NATIONAL, OR LOCAL?

Wild life policy is confronted1 with at least two very big problems' —how lo fight foicsl-danniging animals (particularly deer) and how lo organise rangilig on a national scale. Both aro money problem*. New phases of the deer question have arisen since the deer campaign began, and, from a partial investigation of these, we confidently hope that the years of work of the Internal Affairs Department in the way of creating a market for hides and other deer products—and the work of all who have aided in that direction—will prove oi' great economic advantage. If hide and skin prices can be made lo control deer and rabbits, a big expenditure out of national funds may be saved. But, promising as the work with deer products is, we cannot yet assume that the Government will escape a big expenditure in the control of deer. The oilier question, ranging, is mixed up with the acclimatisation society system; ranging by societies depends in quality upon the circumstances of each of the societies, some of which arc admittedly weak. But if ranging is lo be effective, it must be effective at all points where animal or plant life is endangered, and not only at points where acclimatisation authority is relatively strong. The rangers "should bo the police of the forest, with a duty to the country, not merely lo a part of it. Wild life policy should therefore aim at deciding what are national, and what are merely local, services. The candour of the exchanges between the societies' conference, on ihe one hand, and the Minister and his departmental heads on the other hand, encourages the hope that the parties will go further and will discuss radical readjustments.