COUNCILLOR ROBIN AND THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY'S DUCKS. TO THE EDITOR.
SiE,-^lhe discussion in. the City Council in reference to Mr Robin's appropriation of the hybrid ducks in the gardens, the property of the Acclimatisation Society, is a good illustration of the old proverb, that a silk purse cannot be made out of a sow's ears. These birds were bred by the Acclimatisation Society, and are by Act of Parliament vested in the chairman of the society; and yet Mr Robin coolly makes a present of them to' a gentleman from Sydney as a gift from himself, and then, when taken to task, attempts to "brazen it out" in his usual characteristic style. The remarks made by Messrs Robin and Barnes at the council meeting illustrate forcibly the incapacity of these gentlemen to understand or appreciate the immense benefit to the Colony of the work of the Acclimatisation Society; our naturally Ashless rivers and lakes stocked with trout and perch, the introduction and rapid spread of insectiverous and song birds such as the starling skylark, thrush, blackbird, goldfinch, and hedgesparrow, the Californian and other trees which this society first introduced; these will for all future time be a blessing to the Colony. The pests of the Old Country, to which Mr Robin so feelingly alludes, the house sparrow aud rabbit, were not introduced by the Otago Acclimatisation Society but by wiseacre amateursmen after Mr Robin's own heart—who simply indulged their foolish crochets to the lasting detriment of the Colony. In conclusion, Mr Hobiu may think himself fortunate that the majority of the council of the society were not inclined to push matters to an extremity, or he might have, ere now, been figuring in a position much more unpleasant than he now occupies — I am, &c, Alex. C. Begg. Dunedin, July 28.
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Bibliographic details
Otago Daily Times, Issue 7317, 29 July 1885, Page 4
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301COUNCILLOR ROBIN AND THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY'S DUCKS. TO THE EDITOR. Otago Daily Times, Issue 7317, 29 July 1885, Page 4
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