OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13862, 27 March 1907, Page 2

OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

The monthly meeting'of the council of tho Otago Acclimatisation Society, hold yestciday ,at the society's office, was attended by Messrs R. Chisholm (president), J. Sinclair Ihomson, R. Forrest, T. Brown, S M'Donald, A. Ilanlon, D. Russell, and <¥.■ Deans. Apologies for aUence woie reconcd fiom Messib A. E. Farquhar and R. Ruthcrfoid. IMPORTS. ' Mr F. Deans (manager of the Opoho hatchery) repoiletl as follows for tho month of March:—"Thcic is httlo to iepoit this month. Tho fish aio all liberated, and alterations and lepairs aio being cat nod out at both hatcheries. The water supply at Opoho is still \ciy low. A letter has been lecened fiom the manager of tho Government poultry faun at Milton asking if tho society wanted any young pheasants, and ako that he would like some golden or silver pheasants for breeding purposes. The dwclling-houso at Opoho ha? been papered and paintod throughout, and some woodvvoik repairs done. Mr Macintoch, of tho Wnitalu, has seemed a pan' of young white swans, which ho is willing to exchange for other birds. Accoiding to picnous arrangements with tho Secietaiy of Mamie, I again assisted in unpacking anothei shipment of Californian salmon ova at Ilakataramea, add have much pleasuro in Mating that they woie a gieat success, and when I left on the 16th they wore nearly all hatched, and weie looking stiong and lively. The lr\o stock at Opoho has lcceived an addition in the shape of a hedgehog, presented by Mr C. Rills, bin! dealer, Diincdin."—lt was decided to make an exchange of two ducks and a duko for the pair of wbito swans offeied by Mr Macintosh, and to place them in tho Botanical Gaulons, and to remove two black swans fiom the latter Gardens to those at Woodhaugh. It was decided to wntc to the manager of the Government poultry farm at Milton, in l elation to the lrqucst for somo golden or sihei pheasants for breeding puipo<*» in exchange for tome young pheasant's, and ask for fuithcr particulate—rho ieport was adopted. Mr James Steven (managei of the Clinton hatcheiios) reported as follows: — "Since tho work of libei tiling fish has been finished I have been devoting all my spaie time in elfpcting \aiiou» icpaire about tho placo generally. A good deal of_ tunc has been piactically wasted m an cffoit to repair some of the leaking ponds. One of these I have given up as hopelcs, and several of the othcis aie giving a lot , of trouble, having h,ul lo remove the fish I a. gieat many times to effect lepaiis. Such len.iiis aie onlj temporal}, owing lo tho ' naluio of tho subtoil. IJnless something in the way of coi'cioling is done two at least of the ponds will have to be closed up as useless."—ft was decided that a visit of inspection be paid to the ponds at tlio liatchciy immediately after tho Master holidajs.-Tlic leport was adopted, m.ui: jior\HiN orcn. The Chan man elated that on iceeipt of the letter from the Tourist Department in 1 which it was stated tlut the dcei wore becoming a nuisance on the slopes of tho Blue Mountain 1 ;, moie especially m tho Rongaheic distiicl. Ihcv made it their business to iiialituti l inquiries as to the real slate of affair'., and bad iocivcd lopoits fiom two 'outers in the district as to the actual amount of damage that was being done bv the dcei. On ictciving tho leports the executive of the society had considered if advisable that he (the chanman) should visit Tapanui and have a confeicnoo with the local society, lie had made that visit, and had found that they had a very largo and live society in Tapanui, with a niembeidup of 50 or 60 persons. He met tho whole of the Tapanui Society'! executive, and went into the matter veiv full}. Tho

lcpoit which'ihcv had leeched fiom l'apamn since (ho holding of that meeting, and which lud hcfoio tliem, went lo show that while the deei had been doing some damage in the wav oE looting up potato ctops it iv.is a diliicnlt matter to estimate the actual damage that wa« done by them. 'I'he position wns that the scttleis in ttm distncls woie paving what vveie meiely peppeicoin lenlals for then holding, and that mote depredation was being done by a few leaseholder than bv the deer. Some luindicds cf acics had been completely denuded of bush, and the deer thus dcpnvod of 'then sanctii.uv. If that continued it would meeri the exterminating of the deer altogether. Finthei, wholesale destruction of the deei bv shooting went on.

The resolutions parcel at the meeting of the Tapjjiui Socictv's Executive- included the following:—"Having legaid to the lttipoilanco of piewvmg the deer, held, and in view of the rieatiuction of tho natmal co\er b,v leaseholder on the ea.st side of the mountain and tho Hiding .'.mount loeeived as lenta! fiom these leaseholder, this mcetnifr is of tho opinion that within ceiUin limits to be donned the nioimlain should bo iccived by the (Jovoinment as a deer park and scenic refeivo. and btronglv recommends the Otago Acclimatisation Soeictv to lake stops in tint duection", aNo, '"Thai the ic:eived .ilea be appioximalelv su follows.—Fiom Black (Jiillj to Black Cleugh, thence noailv to the Molvneux thence to J'llaclc Cieel; and l'cm,a!ialca. River; thence lo Deep Cieek, thence to boundaiy of small glazing Run No 44, thence bv foicst land to Biandy Cicek, thence to Black fiully bv a line on tho west Mtle, abutting on tho ■•mall selector''

The ic c olutions were lead, ami tho Chairman moved .11 follows:—'"That the Otago Acclimatisation Society is in entno accoul with the Tapanui Angles and Doer Stalkers' Soeietj in its efforts to havo that

area of tho Blue Mountains defined in its resolution lesoned ns a deer forest and scenic loseiic, and lefcis tho matter to the executive to more particularly define 1 lie area, and take tho necessary stops to stiongly uigo upon the Goiernmont tho necessity o£ giving clTect to this reeolution " This was carried unanimously. cikeku. Tho Secictaiy of the Tapanut Society wrote stating that at a, meeting of its executive the following 1 solutions wero parsed •—" (1) That we recommend pioelainiing of a close season among deer and the introducing' of' a now strain of blood with a view to the improving of tho herd. (2) That, tho attention of tho Otago Acclimatisation Society be drawn to ho dcsnalulity of ananging for a distribution of less fry and a larger proportion of one and two-year-old fish. (3) That' prorition bo mado foi -tho admission of lepre'cntatiics of country societies on tha council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society."—Tho Chaiiman said it would bo a \ciy good thing for tho Tapanui Society to ha\o representatives on thoir own sooiotv. judging by the inteiest the former took in acclimatisation and other matters. —I'ho other matters in the letter were lcferred to the executive for report.

It was notified by tho Chairman that tho imported game for shooting this 6cason would bo baios and Californian quail, tha licence fco being £1. Tho shooting of nati\o game would be lestricted to grey and teal ducks, swans, and geeso, and tha season extended oicr May, June, and July. It was losolvcd to puichaeo a pair of silver pheasants fiom William Giei, bird dealer, at a cost of four guineas.