MINERS AND BIRDS

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 141, 11 December 1935, Page 18

MINERS AND BIRDS

NO DEPREDATIONS

PROSPECTOR'S DENIAL

SUPERVISORS AGREE

A letter to "The Post" written and signed by Mr. John Edmond (prospector and holder of miner's right No. 64,116) and also signed by Mr. F. W. Gibbs, J.P., by Mr. W. S. Galey (supervisor of No. 1 area), and by Mr. R. S. Beveridge (supervisor of No. 2 area) denies, so far as subsidised prospectors are concerned, that these men have killed native birds or interfered with wild life in. the Nelson hinterland and in the Wangapeka-Karamea divide. Writing to the editor, Mr. Edmond quotes certain recently-published statemtsts by Mrs. Perrine Moncrieff concerning human interference with native birds and the present condition of native bird life. Mrs. Moncrieff's facts under both heads are challenged Mr. Edmond's case for the birds may be summed up as being to the effect that the blue duck are still there, and the kakapo never were. NOT BY SUBSIDISED MEN. Replying to Mrs. Moncrieff's regret that the last stronghold of the rare birds has been invaded by individuals, "some of whom have no love of Nature and whose first impulse in seeing.a bird is to kill it," Mr. Edmond writes: — In answer to these allegations, on behalf of the subsidised gold prospectors I wish to state that they are absolutely unwarranted, besides doing the prospectors the gravest injustice. Mrs. Moncrieff's charges are regarded so seriously by the prospectors that representations are being made to the two controlling bodies, the Unemployment Board and the Waimea County Council, to have these charges officially investigated so that the indictment will be removed. If Mrs.. Moncrieff's allegations are correct, then the prospectors have placed themselves with"2 S e ie^ h of the law for breaches of the Native Birds Protection Act. It can be said, without fear of contradiction, that at the very least 95 per cent, of the prospectors in this area would not do any harm to the native birds—in fact they, regard the birds as what they truly are, friends of man. Mention is made of a survey party of prospectors who so disturbed the bird life that Mrs. Moncrieff went in the opposite direction to make her observations. . Mr. Galey, supervisor in this area, was in charge of that party and he asserts, most emphatically that no member of it did any harm in any way to the native birds. If Mrs. Moncrieff had met that party,, she would have-found Mr. Galey and its members in the fullest sympathy, besides which they would have been able to give quite a lot of first-hand information about the native birds, and Mrs. Moncrieff would at least have had the opportunity to correct her own inaccurate knowledge. NEVER SAW A KAKAPO THERE. The writer is indebted to Mr. F. W. Gibbs, a well-known and esteemed resident of the Wangapeka district, for in-, formation about the kakapo (Strigops habroptilus). Forty-six years ago Mr. Gibbs first drove stock in to pasture on Mt. Mackay, and in that locality where Mrs. Moncrieff mentions seeing kakapo marks on the trees, and he did so annually up to the time of the Mur.chison earthquake. Mr. Gibbs, a keen observer of Nature, with an extensive knowledge of the fauna avid flora of this district, thus had the upportunity annually for forty years to observe if the kakapo had been in the district. He asserts that he never saw one, nor any traces oKpne, nor.ever heard of anyone else having done so in that area mentioned by Mrs. Moncrieff. The last kakapo which Mr. Gibbs saw was in the Cobb Valley thirty years ago. Mr. Galey was guide to Professor Drummond about twenty years ago when the'professor was searching for the kakapo^in the Leslie Valley, and it was there one was seen, but never again since then. It is common knowledge among the prospectors in this area that those marks mentioned by Mrs. Moncrieff as having been made by the kakapo are made by the kakas and keas, and they have been observed doing so. . WHOSE BLACK FEATHER? In regard to the black feather which Mrs. Moncrieff discovered to be that of an orange-wattled crow, it is most unlikely it was, as Mr. Gibbs, whose knowledge of bird life in this district goes back for fifty years, states that no orange-wattled crow has ever been seen or heard of in that locality mentioned by Mrs. Moncrieff. It is common knowledge that the black shag (Phalacrocorax carbo) travels regularly from the Wangapeka River over the passes into the Karamea and Mokihinui Rivers. Where Mrs. Moncrieff picked up the black feather was on the Doughboy Saddle, which is on a direct route that tHe black shags take and more likely to be one of their feathers. Mrs. Moncrieff writes of a lagoon that had not long.before been the haunt of ' blue duck, but they had vanished. In the route taken by Mrs. Moncrieff and her party they would pass two lagoons; at the second one they had their lunch before ascending .to the snow grass country. .The survey . party .of eight-under Mr. Galey saw at least two blue duck, on the same day, on the very lagoons which Mrs. Moncrieff passed. Mr. Galey also states that whenever they < came . upon the lagoons, eight in number in that locality, there were blue duck on each lagoon. With relation to the kea Mrs., Moncrieff says: "It was sad to leave behind the beautiful friendly parrots (keas) knowing that behind us came men who would not leave one alive, believing that it was a duty to destroy the alleged sheep destroyer." Mr. Galey's denial that his party destroyed native birds has already been given. ABOUT THE KEA. Mrs. Moncrieff quotes' her guide as saying keas have such a local range that these particular birds would not even cross to the opposite range. For the good repute of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, of which Mrs. Moncrieff is a vice-president, it is to be hoped that that is not their standard of general bird knowledge, because to say keas do not travel is very far from the truth. Mrs. Moncrieff is counsel for the kea ■in the muchdebated question as to whether or not they attack sheep. Mr. Gibbs states that there were no keas on Mount Mackay forty-five years ago, yet Mrs. Moncrieff saw several during her visit there. Mr. Gibbs first saw a kea as late as 1915 on Mt. Luna, which is in the same area. Mr. Galey states that the first keas observed in the Takaka Valley were seen about the same time, twenty years ago. This first-hand information hardly supports Mrs. Moncrieff's .assertion that keas do not travel. As; to the local evidence ■of keas attacking sheep, Mr. Gibbs states that after 1920 he was compelled to cease putting sheep' on Billy's Knob, 5300 ft, a peak in the same area, owing to the depredations of these birds. He states that the live sheep presented ample evidence of attack by keas in their scarred backs and with wool torn away, besides the grim evidence of mutilated carcasses. SYMPATHY WITH BIRDS. Mr. F. W. Gibbs wishes to affix his signature to this letter, not only because of Mrs, Moncrieff's inaccurate in* <

formation of native bird life in this area, but because he is most decidedly of the opinion that Mrs. Moncrieff's allegations against the subsidised gold prospectors are untrue and most unjust to the men. Of the same opinion is Mr. W, S. Galey, who has had thirtyfive years' intimate experience of the bush in the Nelson Province. He is in the fullest sympathy with the aims and objects of the Forest and Bird Protection Society in its endeavours to assist in the preservation of the native flora and fauna. Mr. Beveridge, supervisor, who has acted in that capacity in each of the three areas administered by the Waimea County Council in this district, definitely stales that not on one occasion has he observed any depredations in respect to the destruction of native birds by the gold prospectors, nor of any ruthless destruction of native bush. He has been in the district ever since the inception of the gold scheme, and thus can speak from experience. BLUE DUCK NEST NEAR CAMPS. Mr. Beveridge mentions particular cases where blue duck (Hymenolaimus malacorhynchus) have been in the habit of feeding and nesting, in close proximity to prospectors' camps and have been unmolested and also appear quite tame. Mr. Galey and Mr. Beveridge most emphatically protest in regard to Mrs. Moncrieff's statement in respect to the Government having very little control over the men; such is not the case. The supervisors have mentioned to me that had Mrs. Moncrieff spoken' to them prior to her departure from- the Wangapeka she would have left with a truer and better opinion of the subsidised gold prospectors. Mr. Edmond concludes: "With the presentation of the above facts the subsidised gold prospectors of the Wangapeka area respectfully ask Mrs. Moncrieff to produce evidence to substantiate her allegations or else unreservedly withdraw them."