ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY.

Lyttelton Times, Volume XXIX, Issue 2344, 27 June 1868, Page 2

ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY.

An ordinary meeting of the Council of this Society was held in the upper room of the Literary Institute yesterday afternoon. Mr C. C. Bowen occupied the chair, and the other members present were Dr Haast, the Kev C. Eraser, U. W. Fereday, L. L. Powell, (Hon. Sec.) J. C. Boys, W. H. W. Williams,P.Hannier, W. D. Carrutkrs, H. B. Johnstone, J. T. Peacock, T. Mottidge, and W. Wilson. Mr Johnson, the Curator, was also in attendance. The minutes of last meeting were read and confirmed. Dr Haast called attention to no fixed sum having been specified for expenditure in procuring the salmon ova from Tasmania. He thought the Council should not undertake unlimited liability in such matters, but apportion a certain sum in every case involving expenditure.

The Council approved of this, and resolved that bucli should in future be done. A letter was read from Mr G. Gould, declining to accept the office of treasurer to the Society, but expressing his willingness to contribute towards its success in any other mauner.

On tbe motion of the Bev. C. Fraser, Mr Carruthers was appointed to the office pro km.

A vote of thanks was awarded to Mr Gould for his services during the past year, The Chairman suggested that the balance sheet referred to the then treasurer at last meeting, should, in order to save time, be given to Mr Carruthers, with a request to put it in proper order. It was resolved that Mr Carruthers should communicate with Mr Gould for the purpose, In reference to the sub-committee appointed to provide shelter for the deer in the Government domain, Mr Boys said nothing had been done, as it was considered that the Council must have overlooked the fact of such a proceeding being uncourteous to the Domain Board, unless they were first consulted in the matter,

It was resolved that the secretary should communicate with the Board on the subject, This gave rise to a question as to the position of the society with respect to the tenure of such portions of the domain, as are now occupied by them, and, after some discussion, a committee was appointed to obtain the necessary information from the Government.

The Chairman suggested that it would also be advisable to ask, whether an amalgamation could not be effected. It would at least be worthy of consideration, whether the members of the Domain Board should not be admitted to the council of the society. Mr Boys said, as a temporary measure, and pending a reply from the Domain Board, the committee would recommend that a quantity of gorse should be provided for the deer. They had instructed the Curator to take steps for obtaining the necessary qmntity at once.

The council approved of the proceeding. _ I i Mr Nottidge, on behalf of the sub-commit- | tee appo : nted to prepare the new rules, i brought up a draft copy, and said that in § framing them, the committee had been c guided by those in uae by the Victorian ( Society. i The rules were read as a whole, discussed I seriatim, and finally adopted. < Mr Carruthers suggested that the meetings ( of the council should in future be held at 1 three o'clock instead of half-past two. i A motion to this effect was adopted. i The Curator's report was read. It was of ] a very extensive nature, but the following is i the giat of its contents:—Mr H. H. Glower had become a member of the society ; and i the following contributions had been received—Mr T. Thomas, a Cape pigeon ;Mr E. Duppa, seed of the South Sea calabash, which produces a species of pumpkin used by , the natives for making water bottles, cups, baskets, &c. The receipts Bince last meeting had been—subscriptions, £7 17s 6d; and from birds, &c, £1416s 7d, which increased

the previous balance to £157 Gs lid. The expenditure for the same period had been £4116s iod, leaving a present nett available balance of £lls 10s Id. A list of the live stock at present in the gardens was given ; the total number of all species was 97. Nine cock pheasants were available for sale or exchange. Mr Fleming, of Port Levy, had been written to relative to the exchange of hen pheasants. Capt Thompson having expressed his willingness to bring the salmon ova and live fish from Tasmania, the necessary apparatus had been supplied to him. Pour different modes of packing the ova had been prepared for, in order to facilitate the discovery of means by which ova could be brought by the Panama route, when the offer of lake salmon ova from Bavaria could be taken advantage of. Reference was made to the failure of attempts to acclimatize the English partridge, and it was suggested that this might probably be obviated by the special construction of cages for providing for their requirements on board, If any steps were approved of in the matter, a sample cage might be sent to England, and others manufactured as required. Hurdles would be required in which to interlace the gorse in triangular patches for the proposed shelter for the deer. A new enclosure would be 1 be required for facilitating the improvement in the breed of Angora goats, and £25 would cover the expense, Great trouble had been unsuccessfully taken to capture the kangaroos, but it was expected that the proposed gorse for the deer would enable this to be accomplished: It was stated that £lB would cover any further expense for the salmon fry when removed from the bredding boxes, ; Several suggestions were also made ns to the ; disposal of pheasants. , Mr Nottidge commenting upon the suggestions contained in the report, said the funds of the Society being so small it api peared to him that their distribution over so l many undertakings was very uuadvisable. In . his opinion the efforts of the society should he principally confined to one branch at once. | If they attempted to introduce salmon ova from Tasmania, birds from England and , eiperiments on other matters, the numbers of I any one kind introduced would be so small , that they would die away and leave the

society in the same position ns before, He hoped that the efforts of the society would be more concentrated than suggested by the Curator.

The Chairman and other members agreed with these remarks, and consideration of the suggestions was deferred. The Curator said the amount in the balance sheet comprised the whole of the expenses for the past month. The accounts were passed, and n discussion ensued on the petty expenditure, which was objected to as in some instances having been unauthorised. It was ultimately resolved that Messrs W.H. Williams and the Secretary and Treasurer should act ns a committee to supervise such matters, and that the Curator should at future meetings of the Council, give an estimate of his probable requirements for the ensuing month, Mr Williams, who had been away for a a short time during the consideration of the Curator's report, said that he had made enquiries at the Government Buildings respecting the position of the society in regard to their occupation of the gardens and portions of the domain, and lie had learnt that they really had no legal position at all. The Acclimatization Gardens and the Govern-

ment Domain were portions of Uagley Park, which was vested in His Honor the Superin tendent by the Keserves Ordinance, and measures could only be adopted in connection with them, by the concurrence of the Provincial Council. They had no legal standing, and might at any time be deprived of their ground. He should therefore recommend the appointment of a committee to obtain some provision for legal possession through the Government. After a brief discussion, it was resolved that Messrs Johnstone, Fereday, and the Secretary should coiumuuicate with tlte Government, in order to ascertain whether the Society can be placed in legal possession of the gardens, and also to suggest that the Domain Board should be amalgamated with the Council of the Society. Mr Peacock called attention to Captain Thompson's letter in the Li/ltelton Times and in a short discussion, which ensued, the Council expressed their regret that Buch an erroneous impression should have been created as that disclosed by the letter.

A vote of thanks to the chair terminated the proceedings.