SHOULD THE MAORIS HAVE FREE FISHING?

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13874, 7 October 1908, Page 4

SHOULD THE MAORIS HAVE FREE FISHING?

' Sir,—There . has been . some considerable ISijlf stir on the part of the Maoris to; induce th« ,•<. * i Government to! Bee why they should be al- ? lowed to fish for nothing. On the other hand various sporting bodies have been • . equally vigilant in their attempts to show why" the Maoris should not have free fish- ;' ing. Before going any further it, might be ias well to pome out briefly the main points >; at issue on both sides of the question. Tho natives assert that by the Treaty of Waitangi they have perfect right to take fish : , from their own streams. Now the sporting community of the pakehas overlook this fact •' entirely, and stoutly affirm that if the •" ' Maoris gain their <}nd trout-fishing will b« ruined. And,. moreover, a most valuabh 1 asset lof the 1 Dominion will become extinct, '!>, Mr. Wilford, under advice from Mr. Ben- - ' nett, the Maori clergyman, pleads the caus'i '■ .-/ of tho Maori in the most sorrowful way, telling us how in every village Maoris aw V to bo seen in the utmost poverty, and indeed '!/ '; in many instances on the verge of starn-,' tioii itself.. Ho goes on, to say what an iniv morse help it would be to tho unfortunate natives if they were allowed to partake of. the abundant food supply at their very doors ,' —in .tho form of tho. ' Tho Hotoriia. -Rod- and ( Gun. Club woidd,'; lead us to suppose. that tins is'tho reverseook;f k ; , tho truth, stating: that there aro no starving Maoris in the district at all. But. when they'll*! say that "if free fishing were allowed thajfsi Maoris would kill off all tho fish in the Sis* Zf? I trict," they make a statement as ridiculous as it is misleading. And, further, there can :.a|ki be little doubt that if the whole tribe -of ' v •-* Maoris were to take trout in a legitimate, ; ;'V; and fair way they would not only bo unable' |f|| to kill tho trout right out, but they would >- do an immense deal of good. lor they,-'"*" 5 would to some small extent thin out a voracious fish whoso numbers have enormously ' outgrown the natural food supply at then j command. At tho present time practically every portion of river water is invaded,bj, r countless hordes of these same. vocaflioiu, t ' animals. The consequence is that a. largo j?].';-'?; percentage of the young ones are eaten by ] the older fish, and those that , survive grow to 11 miserable, lean and undersized, condi- J', f tion. Fairy Spring is a notable instance of,, . the way the _ trout swarm up the streams,, « It would be impossible for people who. had , not actually visited the district 'to-; credit the. amazing number of trout there : really < i%* are. Who can say that there is any sport in'Sfy f. hauling in fish the way they arc caught by,' f j tourists and. others in the summer time? , A, " v man will hire a,boat or oil launch and will f hook them just as fast as he can use his gaff. There is about as much sport in that, aii there is in sitting in a boat in the Ran,-' . , gitoto ; i Channel M hauling in schnapper, or shooting rabbits in the ,western districts of New South Wales. Over 50 tons of fish wer« , ' taken _ from the Rotorua district alone last" season'; This ought to bo overwhelming ];; proof that there are enough and to spare for our coloured friends, , -Notwithstanding r t official denials there is little reason to doubt-;' 1 . that by giving the Maoris permission to fisa j ? either with rod or line (not net) there, would,W'i be ample and to spare for all those who /; T come to enjoy "the glorious sport of angling"', i in our waters. . . Taniwha ~