ACCLIMATISATION

Grey River Argus, 24 September 1936, Page 3

ACCLIMATISATION

Grey District Society ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING. Mr I’. Beck (president) was in the chair, at last evening’s annual genera! meeting of the Grey District Acclimatisation Society, there being an attendance of over forty members. Expressing pleasure at the large attendance). the chairman said that the presence of- IS o many membeiß was an encouragement for the Society in its work. Arising out of the business of the lasi annual meeting, he said that the council had n 0( found it desirable Io prohibit bully fishing in the I Orangipukii River. The matter of liberating further; game had been held ever. He said that, owing to -new regulations issued, it wou’.'d be necessary to revise certain license fees later. During the year, the price for shags’ heads had been increased from Is to Is fid. and the Westland So e'etv had also done so. The annual report as published was taken as read, anj adopted. The balance sheet was as follows: — Receipts: Transfer P.O. a/e. £225; opossum revenue £ll7 9s 7<l; fishing ’icenses 193 1-35 £9 5- 7d; fines £2 17s; fishing licenses 193-1-35 (PlO.) £lB 2s; game licenses 1935 (P. 0. £l4; inter-e-'f; fixed deposit 11 years £2O 12s (id; discounts and refunds £5 Is 7il; fishing licenses £94 12s (id; total £507 0s 9d. Payments: Balance at bank 1/4/35 £l2 14s; car £lB 9s 9d; cycle £46 ]6< 4d; N.Z.A.S.A. £2 2s lid; hatchery £l4l 6s 3d, £3; ranger’s wages £129 10s; expenses £ll 12s 6d; seer."tarv 18 months £55; shags heads £8 0s (id; postages) printing, stationery £8 19s 4d: bank charges f2s 2d; advertising £6 15s; phone £3 10s; rent 52 ss; sundry £3 6s Id; rewards £2 2s- audit £3 3s; balance at 31/3/36 £l7 16- 4d; total £507 0s 9d. TJabilit/«’.s: Nil. Assets: Bank N.Z. (less unpißsentcd cheques) £l7 16s Id; Post Office a/e. £29 18s 2d, pfus accrued interest £4 18s Bd. £34 His Wd; fixed deposit Union Bank £500; O/s fishing fee s I’-D- Cl 3 Us 6d. sundry £7 5s 3d. £2O 16s !>d: motor cycle £BO, less depreciation £l6, £64; hatchery appaiatas. etc. £2l 17s LI; game licenses £27 -Is; sundry accounts and fees £-'» 15s; lot a I £690 (is.

Commenting on the Society’s position ns by the balance sheet, the eliairman said that the revenue 'from fishing and gam,, licenses had been stationery. Although the Society' had expected about £3OO from opossum fees, it had received only £ll7 from the Government. The liateh- ■ u'v cxnenses had been higher oping to repairs necessary at the Omoto hatchery. Tho amount included £6’> for ova. £l5 for rent, and the balance fob repairs. The ranger’s wages were higher dim to Hie loss of the Government subsidy. Hie Society having decided to maintain Hie ranger of tho ’’oss of subsidy. The chairman said ho considered that the present Government 'would treat them fairly, ami ho hoped to see the subsidy restored. Tho Society now had a. fine hatchery at Omoto capable of handling 500.00(1 fi-h. The ranger had given vabiable servic.. throughout th' 1 year. Tho total assets, fj'lOO, were not as substantial n R last wear, the revenue having been only £2OO. whilst the Soei'oty had expended only £2OO. TTowever, most of the assets were in cash. , Tho Imlnnce shoot was apprioved ano adopted. Rangers’ reports from Rangers A. R. Curtis and C- Roigard were received ami they were accorded a hearltv vote of thanks.

The Secretary. Marnp., Department, advised that under recent legislation now regulatlnns were being issued providing for increases in license fees Fop the coining season,, the fees wouh' be: Ma'es over IG, 255; women, 7s 6d: persons under 16, ss. Readjustments would be made in respect to shorter period licenses. The Department stated Hint probablv 10 per cent, of the increase would be used tori research work. th., balance of the increase going to the soei'otie.s. The eliairman said he thought that members would approve of the increase and that the amount, taken .for .■.'search was justified. Previousi’y, .«•>

cieties made donations, 'but some had not done so, and Hie new provision would spr’ead the burden equitably. The balance would go towards ranging. Societies had spent much on ac(dimatLsatioii) and the least that could be done was to protect the birds and fish

R-'ferring to the increase in the s’ze of fish from 9 inches to 11 inchey. Dm eliairman su’d that the Society t.ook full responsibility for the increase. Fish cost £5 peri 1000 to pur chase, and they could not afford 1° aPow men to take them undersize. Nino inch tiish must be put. back whether dead or alive.

Mr 11. E. Knight suggested that the chairman explain the opinion of experts on th c matter. The chairman said that many experts were of the opinion that wheieas an eleven-inch fish would spawn, a nine-inch fish 'would not do so. Rangers had found men with fu'l ol Nine inch fish

Tn rejily to a question, the chairman .said .that he did not think that a ranger wow'd complain if fish weighing ovo.r *4 lbs were caught which might not be of the required length. That. wa.. R a mutter foi; the ranger’s diser.'tioii. In. many places, it had .beeoni 1 necessary for the size to be increaseo to 12 inches, lie thought that the So ciety should give 11-inch fish a further trial and, if neeesasry. the mat ter could be rcconsidencd later. Befor e vacating tire chair, the pre sident thanked the commit tee, secretary. rangers, and ranging committee for their able assistance during the year. OFFICERS ELECTED. Air Bock’s was the only nomination for the position of president, and he was declared re-olerfed. In thanking the members for their confidence. Mr Beck said that he had been president for 12 years, and ha ‘was pleased t" know that he had retained the confidence of members. He wished thv'm all 1 a successful season. The following viee-pr.'esidants were elected; Dr. AV. G. McKay, Messrs J Hill and A. H. Milner (re-elected). Messrs F. F. Boustridge and H. EKnight.

Nineteeni wore- nominated for sixteen vacancies on the council, and the following were elected after a ballot: Messrs R. Marley, A. 'E. Moir

gan, AV. Richmond, N. B. McCallum T. Higgins), A. Glen, J. Smith, N. Al.it- < ha! 1 , A. Oliver (re-elected), 11. Alnthjoson, J. Haytion. R. Webber (town members); L. Neubaetir and 11. Rob ert s (ro-elect'ed), E. Duinpleton and A. Gibson (country members). Air P. C. Heaphy was re-oleeted auditor.

The president handed to Mr F Boustridge the Milner-Benningt on Sb/u d. won by ATessrs S. Hamill an< H. Holmes junr. (equal), for tho largest firiij caught in the Grey River. Each had a catch of 6:1 lbs. BIRD SANCTUARIES. AD) A. E. Rawlins asked how man} bird sanctuaries ther,. w.’iv in the district. The .secretary said tliat sanctuaries were situa'ted at Omoto Racecourse Lake ]laiip:ri,,Lake Ryan, Cobden La goon,, and the lagoon at the roar of th... Grey Hospital. Air Rawlins said he considered that he considered the Society wtts spending too much time and money on fish He conbiderod; .that thiei number ol sanctuaries should be reduced. The only places where shooting was permitted were in the back country, and .veue almost inaeeessibile. The chairman said that- the sanetuares wer,.. made by thc Government fit the request of the Society. lie did u<4 agree that there wer.,, too manyand said that no shooting members had asked for a reduction in tho num ber. The Society had done its very best with birds), but it had not been successful.

Mr Knight was of opinion that sanctuaries near .the- town were high ly desirable. The fault was not with th„ number -of birds, but with the sma’l number of shooters. The natural surroundings of the birds were mostly in inaccessible country, but in spite of this', last year’s increase in the number of shooting licenses was responsible for a 100 per cent, improvement" He had not insisted on further expenditure on birds, because of the state of the Society’s finances. Although he had hoped to ask the Society to do LSiomotiiing, the amount of assistance the Government would give was a matter for question. If, in the future, the Society wished to experiment with birds) the only safe piaee for them to. do so would be in rhe sanctuaries. With the destruction of certain vermin, which th,-, Govern meirt had al'owed, it might be pos sible to establish quail on this side of the mountains.

In reply to Mr Boustridge, the sec

retary said that the revenue front ■hooting licenses fast year was only £l4. Thc license fee for grey, duck and black swan was 10s, but no fee was necessary for shooting hares. Air AVi.lson (Brunner) asked if it would be possib'e to fix a minimun weight for fish.

The chairman saij that ho hai' never heard of a weight being fixed. I, was usual to fix only the length. Mr Boustridge said that he wa' pleased to see that 11 inches had be?!' decided upon, but he would like t see it increased to 12 inches.

Mr Knight explained that 9-inch did not spawn, and by allowing th." fishing of them the Society was no' only losing 'the fish, but was also not getting the benfit of a. spawn. A member suggested that, old mem bers and fishermen who had a fun< o,f knowledge could assist th e newe: members by preparing anj reading short papers. The benefit of theii knowledge would then be available t' the Society. Th ( > chairman said that Messrs AH’ ner and Smith were two members wh' could pr’epare excel'ent papers of thii nature. RAINBOAV TROUT. The Chairman, replying to Alt Boustridge, said that of the .100,000 Rainbow ova from' the hatchery. 30,000 had been liberated in Lake Haupiri, 63 00(1 in the Crooked River, a small quantity in Lake Ryan an 1 the balance in the Taramakuu. There seemed to be no shortage oi brown trout, in the district, and' only Rainbow had been dealt with. These, it had been found, were somewhat difficult to establish.

Air Knight moved a recommendation to the Council, that, during the next spawning season, the Ranger be instructed to trap Rainbow trout with a view to obtaining ova and data as to their progress. The Ranger, he said, should be able to decide upon the most suitable place where this cou.rt be done. He had seen big Rainbow in Lake Poerua and he was satisfied that they could be successfully trapped in the ereeks leading from' the Lake.

The recommendation was seconded by Air AVilson and carried. . Mr A. Glen remarked' that the Society was losing the services of an excellent Councillor, in Air W. J. Chatfield who had been transferred to Invercargill.

The Chairman said that Mr Chatfield would be a. great loss to the Council. As a member of the Hatchery Committee, he had done splendid

work and the Society would greatly miss his valuable assistance. He wou’d go away know ng that they regretted his loss. Returning thanks, Mr Chatfield said that he had been a keen fisherman since he was twelve years old. He had only done for the Society what he thought had been right. The Chairman, in closing the meeting, referred in appreciative terms to the valuable reports received from country members, and thanked them' for their attendance.