CAMPBELL ISLAND.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CXIX, Issue 14682, 13 May 1908, Page 8

CAMPBELL ISLAND.

ITS CONDITION TO-DAY.

There arrived at the Bluff by the Jessie Niccol a few days ago two gentlemen who have spent some months on Campbell Island, which lies several hundred miles south of the South Island, and is one of the dominion's outlying boundaries. They are Messrs W. K. Chambers and F. S. Des Banes, of Gisborne. They went with the scientific expedition which left New Zealand at the latter end of last year, and they remained on the island, spending about fire months there. Mr Chambers gave the Bluff correspondent of the " Otago Daily Times" some interesting particulars with regard to the island. He said that under present conditions it is fully stocked, and not until other portions haye been reclaimed would it be wise to tax its carrying capacity further. He mentioned two facte related to the stock question. The first and most startling was that while the sheep were evidently adapting themselves to the place, the place in a seemingly higher measure was adapting itself to the sheep. In all their favourite retreats, and consequently most frequented resorts, the rough coarse tussocky growths were disappearing, and a fine smooth grass springing up in its place. 'Mr Chambers dealt particularly with this fact. It was evidently an instance of natural adaption that struck him with surprise. A feathered delinquent, the sea hawk had a great deal of mischief to answer for. He preyed upon the sheep and lambs, especially when they got cast or upset, which, considering the broken character of the country, was not an uncommon occurrence. During the lambing season the hawk was particularly busy, and woe betide the weakhng that got into its clutches. In these and other respects the sea-hawk was becoming a perfect pest and had to be reckoned with in the stocking of an island run. Nesting birds, such aa + he albatross, penguin, mollyhawk aud others under present regulations were, Mr Chambers thought, sufficiently well protected and he had no further suggestions to offer in that connection.

There was a suggestion prevalent that wild pigs should be turned out on the islands. This he strongly deprecated. They had, he believed, a hand in destroying the young lambs, but that did not seem to weigh heavily wita him. It was the havoo they wrought amongst nesting eggs. So much was that the case that, if the pig once got the run of those islands he prophesied'their rare bird life would be ■exterminated. So strongly is this opinion held that iur Chambers considers legislative pretention necessary. Seals are supposed to exist in large numbers, but the iron-bound nature of the coast prevented him from making an estimate of their probable numbers. He was very surprised to find starlings, linnets, blackbirds and even the sparrow at Jarge on the island. He had also heard tell of a New Zealand sparrow-hawk having been seen. He could only account for their presence by supposing they had been driven thence by stress of weather. He judged from what he saw they were acclimatising themselves to the island, and seemed to be thriving well and increasing rapidly. Respecting flora and minerals, Mr Chambers had not a great deal to say. He brought away large assortments of fossils and inseots, some of which he believes will, upon further inquiry, prove to be new to science. He found traces of gold ? antimony and tin, but not in quantities that held out the slightest prospect of profitable working. He located an immense deposit of good white marble, streaked with blue. He found a rare mineral, zdroonia, useful for manufacturing filaments for incandescent light. It exists in large quantities, but, unfortunately, its marketable value has been reduced to a minimum, better substitutes having been discovered.