AUCKLAND ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 13927, 12 June 1907, Page 5

AUCKLAND ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

COMPLAINT AGAgT THE GOVERN

(From Ocr Own Cormspokdki.)

AUCKLAND. Juno 11 The Auckland Acclimatisation Society fa* that ,t ha, bwm unju 3 tl y °d C alt $& by tho Government's action in takin R over ho Worna district Wai members have baon stirred up on the. subject nnd tho Goyrnmont »_ promise*! hacking during the session. The Herald, dealing editorially with tho subject, says:-" wholo queetion of the treatment meted Soo ety by tho Govenimcnt will probably bo Ihreshod out in the approaching session of Parliament; nor is the'dobato likolv to ako a less bitter tone through the oxtortionate action of tho Tourist. Department m demanding from the society pavmcnl for trout ova required to proceed with the work of stocking: tho vest of tno province, (his ova havinir necwsnnly to lie .obtained from the hißl)ly : Stoekc(l watprs and preparod spawning- grounds of the recently conliscatcxl Kotonia country. In vi»w of th<> probability of such n parliamcnfan- dobilo we would ask (hc?o who take an interest in the matter of acclimatisation not only in Auckland, but throughout New Zealand, and not only as sportsmen, but as colonists cognisant of the ultimate sreat value of the careful and intelligent slookinjr of the colony with desirable forms of fauna, to consider tho history of the acclimatisation of trout by the Auckland Soeiflty. Tho Auckland public would roalir-e. much more than many appear to do the value of the trout introduction if tho Government would permit the fish lo be eold under reasonable regulations as proposed by the Auckland Society ami rejected by the deportment. In 1876'boenn the. work which has made the fishiiifr fame, of Auckland, enormous quantities of Californian saimon ova. nlxjut. 1,000.000 per nnnutii. lwinp imported and hatched, and Iho fry distributed in Ihn tributaries of the Thames, Waikato. and other streams. The of this for two entire veal's vai lxirno by tlm lalo Mr J. C. Firth, who expended no Icm than £500. Jn addition, tho funds of the society were, largely drawn upon for the e\|ieriment. < It was decided in 1884 that the brown trout vrat not likely to he successfully established, and the society turned 'its attention to rainbow trout. The Government miulo r.o move, while at frreat pxpinu* the society was stocking bv far the finest trout fishery in the- colony, hut when in 1905-6 the ' amount received for fishin-r licenses advancd lo £650. tho Government calmly stepped in nnd cohhVca-rcd th« stocked country. locludiiur the amounts expended on the f.Vlifr.rnian solmon bv thn'kte Mr J. (!. Firth nnd on British

Fiilmon by ihe l-ilo Jlr \V. Karl, mem'iwrs c! the. XurldaiKl Society have subscribe! for tho special jnu'pose. finite, apart from what, llioy have iwitl for their license-', fomethinff lil;o £3500. Th- oiT-ct of this concroiis siipnorl is to be spon in the confi'raled territory, as is also the effect of tho expenditure for years of tho game license, revenues, amounting to several thousands of pounds."