ACCLIMATISATION

Hokitika Guardian, 28 April 1939, Page 6

ACCLIMATISATION

Westland society.

ANNUAL MEETING

The annual meeting of tlie Westland Acclimatisation Society was . held on Thursday evening at which Mr C. L. Harper (President) presided over an attendance of. x 2O members. Apologies for absence were received from Messrs Chapman, Chisnall, Clarke and Morressey. - The statement of receipts and expenditure and the balance sheet were yead and adopted. ~ The following report was read and received:— Annual Report/' >7 As the balance sheet shoWs -the work of acclimatisation has been , maintained as far as the finances will permit. The Receipts from all sources amounted to £169/12/3 and adding the credit balance of of £246/6/7, totalled £415 18/10. while the expenditure was

£278/14/1. leaving a credit balance ot £137/4/9. It is with the deepest regret 1 have to record the loss to the Society during tile’year of three of our oldest and most active members in the persons of Mr James King, Dr. Teichelmann, and Mr S. W. Ridland. The late Mr King was lion, treasurer to the Society for over forty years, and Dr. Teichelmann fulfilled the office ot' President for about the ; '§!fne period. The loss to the society of Mr Ridland who lias been curator at the Lake Kanieri ■Hatchery for very is a •will'. members have given very valuable ser- \ ice to tne society over a very long Society i s mudt for their passing. The shooting <seasoneduring the year was. up to the usual standard and the reductioh of the license fee to 10/- has been very popular. The liet return to the Society has beeii an increase of about treble the licensed shooters and an increase in the revenue also. During the year steps were taken to set aside a portion of the Okarito Lagoon, in the vicinity of the towiisliip a s a game -sanctuary. A request to liberate hares in the Southern District was not approved, although no very definite reasons were advanced as to why permission was' withheld. A supply ol quail w;is obtained from the Otago Ac. climatisatidn Society and these were liberated in the Mikonui District. The thanks of the Society are due to Mr G. -H. Chapman who performed the work of 'liberation. Further efforts are being made to obtain a further supply during the coming year. Reports from the southern area indicate that the pheasants appear to be increasing. The fishing season ha s not been on a par with previous years although the southern river s are reported to contain a’ plentiful supply of heavy fish! The. Arahura and Hokitika rivers have beeii somewhat disappointing, the general opinion bdng that these two streams have not yet recovered from the disastrous Hood of about four years ago. A good number of quinnat up to 61b in weight were taken in Lake Kanieri, but very few brown or rainbow were taken in this lake. Perch appear to be very plentiful although less were caught thi s year than in the last f§w seasons. The Hatcliery operations were continued under the capable management of the late Mr Ridlsfhd and a total of .■y 620,000. ova were hatched out and liberated. A grant of 200,000 quinnat ova was received from tlie Marine Department,' 220,000 brown ova were purchased from; the Grey Society and 200,000 Rainbow ova were purchased from the internal Affairs Department at Rotorua. These, were liberated as follows: Quinnat Lake Kanieri 70,000 Kanieri River 30,000 Little Waitaha River ... 69,000. Teremakau River ... ... ... 40,000 . /Brown Trout. . | Lake Kanieri 70,000 Kanieri River ... ... -50 f ooo .i Arahurar'Riyff™ 7.*; iTO,TIOO^ Rainbow Trout. ( Lake Kanieri ... 100,000 Lake Mapourika 100,000 • ■ The Westland Dairy Coy. supplied the; transport for thA/hatchery ✓ work j and gave very satisfactory service although the charges this year were considerably dearer due to increased costs. The thanks of the Society are due to those members who voluntarily assisted with the fry, without which it would be impossible for the Society to carry out hatchery work.

One of the outstanding events of the year has been the visit of the two .Government Biologists, Messrs Hobbs and Allen, who made a biological survey of the lakes in the Society’s District. A full report of the biologists work will be .forwarded to the Society in due course and should prove invaluable in; glidings theH'utmre work of acclimatizing .fish in these lakes. An interesting feature of the work of the biologists was the discovery } in Lake Mahinapua, of the presence of carp . and perch, though the extent to which the lake is stocked was not ascertained. A speciman of the American catfish was also caught in Lake Mahinapua about the end of January.

A run of quinnat salmon in McDonald’s Creek, near Waiho was reported and. on the 23rd June, 1938, several members of the Society visited this creek and verified the report, in about a mile of water 70 odd fish were counted ranging from 51 b s to about 201 bs. It is very satisfactory to know that the efforts of the Society to introduce salmon in our streams is at last meeting with a measure of success

During, the year the Society received

continued reports of the illicit shooting of native pigeons, particularly in the southern areas. A request was made to the Government to appoint permanent rangers but nothing definite was done owing to the Department, not being able to arrange for any appointments beyond the 31st. . March, 1938. The lack of the necessary finance'is ;-a. serious handicap to the Society iii the employment of rangers, and. as the protection of the native pigeon is of national interest, a further attempt { . to interest the Government in appointing and maintaining rangers, is recommended to the "incoming committee. *

In conclusion 1 wish to express thanks to the Kanieri Electric. Coy., for the continued supply of water to the hatchety at Lake Kanieri, to the Hokitika -‘Guardian” for publicity and sympathetic interest accorded to .the Society during the year and to the Westland County Council for kindly placing the Council Chambers' at the disposal of the Society for its meetings. The following nominations for the respective offices were received and de-

dared elected i President, Mr C. Li Harper ; vice|president, Mr G. H. Chapman; hon. ' secretary and treasurer. - Mr A. C. i Armstrong; hon. Mr A. R. Eleock. Committee—Messrs G. Buqhan--1 an, A. Thompson, H. E. F. Pierson, K. |K. Morris, D. J. Evans; J. J. Mclntosh (senr), Jack Preston, W. Nimino; J. N. Robinson, A. E. Perry, W. T. i Hatris :i and G. Michel, j A vote of thanks was accorded to thjj and. for their thpi.Society during the past ilekrsruth: IwDimt Had' • j Affairs rfdrwiVrded ,@cPQiWil)fj ihgl-Supplementary i .pizette: N 0... a6;i.Hotifying': the shooting i season -was tb open; oihthe 6th May and j to: close on the 30th Juue. Also that the ] Okarito Township Reserve No. 654 had been, excepted from the operation of ’ the open season. j • The Marine Department wrote thanking the Society for the two mudfish for- ] warded for the purpose of exhibition at the Centennial Exhibition. | » An application from G. Michel for a boat shed site at Lake Mahinapua was granted at a fee of 10/- per annum; the building to be- erected to the satis faction of Hie Society. ! Mr W. J. Phillips of the Dominion Museum, /Wellington, wrote requesting to lie supplied with information regarding brown trout iii Westland for incorporation in a hook he is publishing concerning N.Z. Fishes. It was left to the Secretary to comply with the request. j The Internal Affairs Department 1 wrote regarding the Society’s wishes in the matter of an open or dosed season j for opossums. The secretary reported that he had obtained the opinions of the individual members of the executive and as a result had recommended to .tile Department' that the Spei,ety, favoured an open season of not more than six weeks. ■: i The Conservator of Fish and Game at Rotorua forwarded conditions of the supply of rainbow eyed ova j for the coming season. It was resolved that owing to the limited finances of ;the Society, no hatchery operations be undertaken this year and the Conservator, to be advised accordingly. ' • ■ Mr W. H. of Rnatapu, forwarded some correspondence from 'Mr J. O’Brien M.P. and the Hon. F. Langstone (Minister in Charge of Scenery Preservation) who enclosed a planof Lake Mahinapua showing the portions of the area adjacent to the Lake that are controlled by the Scenery Preservation Department and that controlled by the Westlahd Acclimatisation Society, and pointing out that the Department had no powei; to form a board of control until the Westland Acclimatisation Society had handed its portion back to the Crown, a procedure to which the Society would not agree. Mr Wilson, in his letter, stated he had been requested by the. residents of the district to forward the correspondence to the. Society in the; hope that something might, he done-., tbwdivds'-improving the Lake- The-'secret ary was instructed to writo to Mn 'Wilson asking him to call a) meeting- of residents with the idea of (formulating- a plan for the improvement of: the .Lake-and to submit it to the Society who would willingly co-op-J erate. ‘I

The secretary was instructed to advertise , the Hatchery Cottage at Lake Kanieri for rental for a period of one year:

Accounts amounting to £2/6/6 were passed for payment. It was decided to make application to the Marlborough Society for a supply of quail.