POSSUMS.

Grey River Argus, 19 January 1922, Page 6

POSSUMS.

PROTECTION OBJECTED TO. WELLINGTON, Jan 16. Claiming to speak from long experience of the habits of opossums, Sir Walter Buchanan told the Legislative Council that the present regulations for the protection of opossums required to be amended for the benefit of settlers Avho found the animals extremely destructive on their farms and in their orchards. In the rough bush districts the opossum might be left alone for the greater part of the year, but in areas AA’here there Avas a fair amount of settlement it must be kept in check. The regulation provided that in the distrets covered by the acclimatisation societies the killing of opossums was permitted during one month of the year, subject to the issue of a license costing £2 10/-. Outside that one month no opossum might be killed except in special circumstances. During the close season an orchardist Avith a, registered orchard

Avas at liberty to kill any opossum without a permit, provided that the animal was actually in his orchard. He could not, however, kill opossums outside the orchard, although the neighbouring sec-! tion might be the refuge of hundreds of them. Permission to kill under j these conditions gave the landowner no ■ relief. At GreytoAvn the speaker had j seen an impressive example of what : the destructive powers of the opossum ' were. Very many people thought that the opossum was harmless, and that no destruction of any consequence was to be feared from it. The general manager of the Ncav Zealand Fruit Growers’. Federation did not think so. Sir Walter Buchanan quoted from ’ various sources testimonies to the de-; structiveness of the opossum Avhen it . entered gardens and orchards. He; Avould not, he said, go so far as to ad-1 vocate the withdraAval of all but he thought that in the districts | Avhere farms, gardens, and orchards Avere to be found, the owners should be allowed to take more effective measures to safeguard their property. He hoped that the committee Avhich Avas to con-

sider the Animals Protection and Game Bill Avould fall in Avith his vieAv, and make proposals for the amendment of the present regulatons. It had frequently been said that opossums bred sloAvly, but they Avere very numerous in various parts of Ncav Zealand.

Sir Walter Buchanan is one of the members of the committee to which the Animals’ Protection Bill has been referred by the Council.