OPOSSUM REVENUE

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 136, 6 December 1944, Page 4

OPOSSUM REVENUE

"VESTED INTEREST"

"On behalf of the Wellington Acclimatisation Society, the president, Mr. D. J. Gibbs, has practically entered a plea of guilty to the charge that the protectors of the opossum have a vested interest in the farming of the pest," writes Leo Fanning. "After telling the public that the society has been losing money in its zeal for the maintenance of the'nuisance, Mr. Gibbs has at last disclosed the real reason for this misplaced benevolence. After reference to various irrelevant activities of the society he comes to the core of the opossum issue—the only one raised by myself—with the expression of a hope that the Government will 'allow all societies full revenue from licences and fees.' So the society is battling away for the opossum in the expectation that it will reap some reward for its persistence. The vested interest looms up for all to see. "In this particular pose of defender of an insufterable pest, the Wellington society stands in unsplendid isolation, throwing dud bombs at forestry experts, farmers, orchardists, gardeners, power boards, and others. It is as pathetic a figure as Dame Partington, who tried to mop back the sea that surged into her house. "Mr. Gibbs has made a virtue of necessity in his remark about the society's expenditure on fish research and vermin control. Some years ago the societies were allowed an increase in the angling and shooting fees, on condition that the extra money would be used for those purposes. One wishes that the Wellington society's interest in the protection of native forests would include the discouragement of destructive blazing of trees by trappers—H common practice which Mr. Gibbs has mistakenly described as 'harmless.' If the hackers give heed to Mr. Gibbs's opinion, which is contradicted by all foresters, they will continue the mutilation of trunks."