ACCLIMATISATION CONFERENCE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLII, Issue 12931, 29 July 1905, Page 6

ACCLIMATISATION CONFERENCE.

•SOME AUCKLAND MATTERS.

PROTEST AGAINST DECOY

SHOOTING.

[by TELEGRAPH. special CORRESPONDENT.]

Wellington, Friday. At the conference of f he Acclimatisation Societies a recommc- *' ■ on was received from the Auckland, O ittrbury, Waitaki, Waimate, Ash burton, and Wellington societies that native game should be further ■protected, and that decoy and cylinder shooting should be prohibited.

Air. O'Callagkan (Auckland) said, vhat at fiercer and Raugiriri, when the swamps were dry and there, was.no rain, the i-irds congregated on these lakes, and were simply slaughtered. He was sorry to say that some shooters not' only shot the ducks in the air, hut waited until they settled, and then shot them in threes and fours. The Auckland Society was very anxious that not only de;oy, but cylinder shooting should be done away with altogether.

After some further discussion, the resolu- ' tion passed at last year's conference ''or (he prohibition of the excessive and unsportsmanlike destruction of native or imported game was reaffirmed, with the addition of a clause defining decoy and cylinder shooting under the heading of " unsportsmanlike devices."

When the matter was brought before Sir Joseph Ward' by the members of the conference to-day, "the Minister stated that he quite agreed with the suggestion that decoy and cylinder shooting should be abolished, both methods being, he said, most unsportsmanlike. A consolidating Bill was now being prepared, and the suggestions of the conference would, as far as possible, be embodied in the measure.

The Auckland Society also brought up at the conference a. resolution to provide for the gazetting of regulations in respect to the formation of new societies within an existing acclimatisation district, as provided under clause 7 of the Animals Protection Act Amendment Act, 1903.

Mr. O'Callaghaai, speaking in rapport of the resolution, said the Auckland' Society asked the conference to pass a resolution asking the Government to issue definite instructions as to what would constitute a new society. The motion was carried. Speaking in 'support of the recommendation as a member of the deputation which waited upon Sir Joseph Ward to-day, Mr. O'Callaghan said that in the Auckland district, whenever a new proposal was mooted which did not give universal satisfaction in some parts of the district, someone immediately called a, meeting, and put forward a proposal that they should break away from the parent society, and form a new society. Sir Joseph Ward, in his reply, stated that he was quite averse to new acclimatisation districts being formed unless very good cause were shown. He said that the regulations asked for would be gazetted and! that in future all applications for the formation of. new districts would be forwarded to the parent society of the district. A petition was received by the conference from over 700 Taumarunui and West Taupo people, asking the conference to fix the western and southern boundary of the Auckland, Acclimatisation Society's district. Both the Onjxarue and Wairaiha Rivers had, it was pointed out, been stocked with tainbow trout by the Auckland Society, who had also placed a fair number of rainbow fry in the Wanganui , River, above Taumarumii, but until the boundary, as suggested by the petitions, .was fixed.by the Government the society felt they could not, in justice: to the rest or their district, place the quantity of fry required by the petitioners in the rivers, in West Taupo. If the conference recommended the Government to adopt the suggested boundary, the whole of the Waimiha and Ongarue Rivers, and all the Wanganui river and tributaries above Taumarunui would be included in the Auckland Society's district. It was agreed that the matter was one as between the Auckland and Clifton societies, and the petition was referred to them.