ANGLING NOTES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 9293, 8 December 1891, Page 3

ANGLING NOTES.

The angling competition amongst the members of. the Otago Anglers' Association for the Anderson medal, which took place on the Waipahi river on the 27th of last mouth, resulted in Mr Samuel .Thompson winning the medal. Mr Thompson had also the good fortune to win the medal the first time it was competed for. At the second competition Mr James King, of Beuhar, gained the coveted prize, and in the following year Mr W. Fraser, of Lovell's Flat, was victorious. At last year's competition Mr Thompson disputed Mr Fraser's right to the medal of that year, on account of an alleged infringement of the rules, but after the matter was threshed out by the association, and later on in the Resident Magistrate's Court, it was decided in favour of Mr Fraser. This year Mr Thompson having again won the medal, it now becomes his absolute property. When the news of his victory arrived in town it was received with a considerable amount of satisfaction in angling circles. The result of the competition was as follows: —

The angling competition for the Acclimatisation Society's gold and silver medals took place on the 28th of last month on the Waipahi river, and resulted in Mr Sparks winning the first prize, and Mr M'Cormack the second;. A bare fly only was used in the competition, the details of which are as follow: — Name of Competitor. No. of Fish. Weight, lb oz Mr Sparks... ... 15 18 4 Mr M'Cormack ... 5 11 0 Mr A. King ... !> 10 0 Mr S. Trusler ... 5 8 8 Mr James King ... -4 6 0 Mr John Robertson ... 2 4 4

Perch fishing seems to be much iv vogue this season, and a favourite resort for anglers is the Tomahawk lagoon, where some enormous baskets have been obtained recently, one party last week getting as many as 200 fish in one day. It is said that the lagoons on the Taieri Plains are also very full of perch.

MR PINKERTON AND MR FISH.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —I quite agree with Mr Fish that it is bad form for one member of Parliament to criticise the speech of another addressed to his constituency, and I would gladly have avoided doing so if Mr Fish had not, by his attacks, forced it on me. I have all along endeavoured to keep clear of personalities, and would willingly continue to do so, but as silence on my part might be taken to mean that I was guilty. of the charges he has made against me, I have been compelled to act in self defence. Mr Fish has characterised an answer, or rather a refusal to answer, a question put to me last Friday night as not being straightforward and honest, and publishes a "letter he received from me, dated February 7,1891. That letter is a correct copy of one that I sent to him in reply to a statement made by " Civis "in Passing Notes, of which Mr Fish complained. The statement in the note was untrue, and I said so. Now, as Mr Fish has charged me with dishonesty in the matter, I may as well tell the whole story, so that there need no longer be any doubt about it. In conversation with Mr Fish soon after the election, he suggested that the labour party should have a representative in the Government, and as he had had six years' experience in Parliament, he thought he had a claim to that position. His plan was to form a party of the members for the district, with Mr Kelly in it if possible, to be called the Otago contingent, that party to make their claim to Mr Ballauce, and he was certain if that were done Mr Ballance would readily consent. I did not fall in with the proposal, and the matter dropped so far as I was concerned. Mr Fish agrees that it is the duty of a member to present a petition from any person providing it is couched in proper languarge, but challenges me to deny that in company with Mr Hutchison I waited on Mr Ballance and asked him to place Outram's pension on the Supplementary Estimates. He says, "Can Mr Pinkerton deny this?" I tell Mr Fish that I can and do deny it. I never asked Mr Ballance to put one shilling on the Estimates for Mr Outram, and I have no knowledge of Mr Hutchison's having done so. About the finding of the committee, Mr Fish, I am told, is right—that the^report is as stated by him ; but that part has nothing to do with the principle of our dispute, which is that Mr Hutchison and myself were in favour of the pension being restored. Mr Fish's reference to the servile following of the Government I will allow to pass as unworthy of serious attention, his greatest trouble being that he cannot get a servile following. If, in my reference to the petition of Messrs Hazlett and Glendiniug, I have conveyed the impression that the prayer of the petition was that the Government should purchase the Shag Point railway line at LSOOO I have failed to make myself understood. What I meant was that the result of the committee's recommendation, if carried into effect, would cost the country about LSOOO, and the reason I named that sum was that I heard it spoken about in the House, and also the effect that the purchase would have on others who were placed in a like position—they also would claim on the country. But I did not blame Mr Fish for this. All I contend for is, if lam guilty, as he described, so is he. For Mr Fish's correction about the Premier's dispute with the Council, and his coupling the Electoral and Laud Bills he does not make his position very clear. What part of the Electoral Bill does he contend caused the disagreement? The Land Bill was the bill of the Hon. John M'Kenzie, not the Premier. With respect to the legality of the pension mentioued in the P.S. I have nothing to say, nor about the Government that granted it, but it does seem strange that Mr Fish was six years in Parliament before he discovered it. It might be interesting to know who first directed his attention to it.—l am,

&c, Dunedin, December 7. D. Pinkebton.

' Name of Competitor. Portion of Wa1 Allotted. [No. of Fish. Weight. S. Thompson W. Fraser ... \Y. Carlton... G. F. Steele... J. Telford ... N. side of Hayes' house to railway cutting Hutchinson's to one mile below same Arthurton bridge to one mile below same Arthurton bridge to large post below gorge Old road bridge to N. side of Hayes' farmhouse Mouth of Waipahi to li miles above same One . mile below Hutchiuson's to 2 miles below same One mile above bridge to 2 miles above same Month Otaria to 1 mile above same 9 2 9 3 4 lb oz 14 0 10 4 9 4 7 0 6 0 J. King A.M'Gaw ... 3 6 0 4 8 W.Sheddon...! I D. A. Purvis 1 4 C 1 3 11