’POSSUM POACHING

New Zealand Times, Volume L, Issue 11652, 17 October 1923, Page 10

’POSSUM POACHING

THE SOCIETY’S POSITION A REJOINDER. (To the Editor. “X.Z. Times. Sir,—Your repoit regarding th# above, cmbiacing (ortain statements (and mis-statements) m.fde at Wednesday night’s meeting of the Aeeliinatisaticii Society, forces mo to the unhappy conclusion that the society is out for tho blood of anyone tv ho piesumcs to suggest anything for the practical (and obvious) good of any branch of acclimatisation work. I dr> m.t propose to enter into anv long controversy as to the rights anti wrongs of the matter; [ do however, seek your indulgence in an endeavour to point out that, with perhaps, one welcome exception, members of the council have wasted many v.ords and many minutes in which more useful work would have been done, in placing an utterly wrong constiuetion upon both the contents of the letter in question and the spirit in which it was written.

To quote the offending paragraph in full: “Hanging. With the undoubted future before it, it seems imperative that some more efficient system of control should be devised. This assertion is made without any reflection upon those who have directed it m past yeajs I fully realise the difficulties of competent ranging over tho uide areas concerned, and the great obstacles to be overcome in applying a workable set of regulation, more particularly to the Wellington district. I appreciate also, that it is easy to call attention to an evi], and infinitely harder to suggest a remedy for it. But no one who has studied even the outside of the business, can overlook the tremendous amount of poaching that gees on in and out of season, and the secret trade which unquestionably takes place in skins between the local trapping areas and some outside market. The evidence of the former is painfully apparent. Many of tho blocks allocated to trappers this year had been poached out months before the season commenced. I refer particularly to what is known as the bird reserve below Waikanae, portions of forest 33 (Paraparaumu) the big Odlin * property at Reikorangi, and forests 33 (Orongoronga) and 26 On tho Odlin block I saw the worst, evidence of systematic poaching, and nght at the start of the season was shown opossum carcasses from two to three months old. Similar conditions obtained in the other areas referted to, to such an extent that various blocks were practically cleared out. In my opinion, more than a few hundred skins were affected in this manner, and I am not an alarmist in 6tating that the secret trade referred to has undoubtedly assumed big proportions. .. . more stringent ranging throughout the year should require tli« undivided attention of officers qualified to deal with the matter.”

Surely, 6ir, no one with even ah elementary idea of the fitness of thingc would suggest from this that any reflection is made, directly or indirectly, upon either the society or its officers? To criticise a system which is obviously hopelessly ineffectual is one thing; to reflect upon the capabilities of .a body in no wav responsible for that system, yet forced to administer it in the face of all manner of difficulties is quite an-, other. I have been guilty of the former only, and will continue to plead so. That the council has overlooked this plain fact, and laboured the other side mentioned in the manner shown, suggests that there exists a certain inexplicable personal feeling which ia “grossly unfair” only to their own .standard of intelligence. ! Now, as to the poaching itself. cording to Mr Dasent, the rangera [have admitted that there is perhaps “some truth” in the statements made by me. * Splendid! I have before me a list of over twenty leading trappers —men from all parts of the district—who will confirm all I have said and more. Unless, therefore, all these men are deliberately straying from the tfuth, it would seem that the society, in not being previously well aware of the faet6 as' stated, has rather failed in its duty as custodian of the industry. As to the rangers themselves, 1 have the highest opinion of their ability. They, however, are not miracle workers, and can hardly be expected to thoroughly “cover” the many thousands of acres concerned in ’possum trapping year by year. Still, I do maintain that they should have seen enough in their trips through the country to be in full accord with what the great majority of the trapper* think and know; and to endeavour to discount a plain fact by treating it as a half-truth only will come as a big surprise to many. There is little need to deal with Mr Dyer, whose inconsequent charge that I'have been guilty of “colossal impertinence” is all that I would expect from that gentleman. lAN A. MACK AY.