FOREST AND BIRD

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 93, 21 April 1942, Page 4

FOREST AND BIRD

NEED FOR SANCTUARIES

There was* a smaller attendance than usual at the annual meeting of the Forest and Bird Protection Society of New Zealand yesterday afternoon owing to war activities. Mr. E. V. Sanderson, the president, referring to the report (already published), spoke of the increased membership, and stressed the need for more sanctuaries, selected rather for the preference the rare birds showed for the site than for its easy acquisition. This plan, he said, had given excellent results in the working of the largest bird protection society in the U.S.A. The need for placing opossum traps on boards in weka, kiwi, and kakapo inhabited country was imperative, but the wrTole question of dealing with enforced provisions on trappers was hampered by the fact that it was only when opossums were numerous in a forest that the trappers worked it. The absbrbtion of so many men in the war effort had curtailed the campaign against the deer, which he considered the greatest threat to the conservation of New Zealand bush. Mr. Sanderson was congratulated on the successful year the society had experienced in such difficult times. Dr. W. R. B. Oliver agreed that the number of sanctuaries should be increased. There were many scenic areas that could be used as sanctuaries, and the society might seek the cooperation of the Scenic Reserves Board. There were no nominations for the society's officers, and their election, as is proved for in the rules, was left to the executive.