OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 17635, 27 May 1919, Page 7

OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING. The fifty-third annual meeting of thd Otago Acclimatisation Society was held in. tne board room of the New Zealand ExCompany's Buildings last ni 2 ht Mr U. W. M-Intosh occupied the chair and there were about 20 members present. ihe balance sheet showed that the expenditure had been £1802 and the income ±,1529 the balance, (£273) having been trahslerred to balance the account. Of tho;income, £1120 had been received from, fishing licenses and £255 from deer and game licenses. Ihe other sources of revenue were■■• small, the principal one being an item of; i/o derived from the 'sale of ova. Iho Chairman moved the adoption, of the report and balance sheet, and after passing reference to the figures in the balance ssheet S u j y musfc keep up the reputation of the deer herd at Uawea. They had had the advice of people experienced in deer herds, and Mr Butterworth had given them j valuable information on the subject They could not expect the Government to devote funds towards the culling of tho deer- herds in the past year, but they hoped to get some assistance in the near future. Promises in that direction had been made bycar William J?raser and the Hon. Mr Bus-' sell. Speaking of the difficulty they had had with the Southland Society, the chairman said that body had refused to settle the question of boundaries through a commission of inquiry. The Southland Society seemed to bo a law unto itself in that mat: ter, and legal expense had been' incurred, tie (toe chairman) urged the necessity of procuring more subscribing members, and said that some of tne- wholesale firms hadbeen in the habit of giving donations, but, for several causes, they had not continued this. 1 It was gratifying to sec the ' boys' coming along and taking an. interest, in fishing, and he hoped that'interest would extend beyond the actual taking of" fish The expenditure on. the shag had been . necessary. They had to meet a greater dch mand for .fishing, motor cara having made it easier for, anglers to cover more ground.' Ihe society was doing its best to get eggs'from Lake Hawea, and Mr Peilett (the ; ranger) was making arrangements to trap different streams. The society must try to stop the depredations of the snags and eels,' and with regard to the former anglers ■ could - assist by giving ..information as to where the rookeries were. On the Wakaia therehad been 60 or 70 shags in the earlier part' of the season, and they could imagine the '? number of fish taken there. The society* had endeavoured to get some better- results from the eel baskets, and had endeavoured to obtain a record of the eels taken in them, but the request as to particulars had not been complied with. Tie hawk Lagoon was being . catered for—24s. fash from, the Leith and 875 two-year-old having _ been liberated there last Anglers had been getting good results witty the fly. Sullivan's; dam had been a little? disappointing. The fish had not grown.: as\ they had hoped they would owing ..to wa£t of food. The majority of the fish taken, had been small, bnt they had afforded good sport. What was wanted was a good supply of natural food. That did not/exist at the outset owing. to the water being : too new. In speaking of fallow deer, .the,: chairman said . a lot of country had ~ been * thrown open for shooting, and a !good* many deer had been shot. They were eh-" ■ deavouring to protect the Blue Mountains, 1 - : .which they wished to keep for fallow deer.V The red deer herd at the Opper Pom&haka"~ was being watched. The deer did not seem,; to be. too numerous, and they had turned' out 14- bred by Mr Telford. They hoped 1 ; that the new; blood introduced would have ? a good effect upon the herd. They had hada great deal oi trouble over the opossums,* '■' and he did not know'that they, could cbn 7 7} grafculate themselves upon" the way theyli ■bad handled them. It had. been morei a trouble with the Government; thaiiany fault with the council, and th'ousands of opossums had been killed arid. taken; illegally. The society had had several prose- '.; ou'tions to try to check this, but there ; Had-. been a. lot of, little formalities not ■ complied"; with, and the secretary had lost a lot oL.the.,'. cases on that account. There were districts-, where the people trapped opossums and ail- '.'{■ "vised the agents that they .came from open, districts. The reason for .not interferinggiven by the department was that owing to r: the war -no attention could tve given- to-any-v thing outside measures for winning the. war.', He thought the opossum industry, could be : cultivated and established, and that it would; be of commercial value. . '. -.<■;: Mr H. Islip seconded- the motion,- which '■■ was-carried. ' . . •■ -. .;■■■■':' \: The following office-bearers were —President, Mr G. W. M'lntosh; vicerpre-'v sidents, Messrs 0. P. M. Butterworth ;£nd'" A. E. Jenkins; council—Messrs. C. Baker,/ J. Hungerford, O. S. Jenkins, R. A. ,Rod-' gers, E. Kutherford, and O. A. Wilson; .-■; Mr Robinson suggested that deer-stalkers ■*-■ havuig obtamed their number of heads might \ undertake the work o£.culling—that was .in,; shootmg malforms. ■ -, - ;-■ ■y' The Chairman said that was a difficult: matter. Stalkers would not do any shooting , '-; they had got the head they wAnted, : i: and it was/ then too late to do anything that': day, and they became anxious to get away.' They had been offered two "heads extra if they would shoot 10 old hinds, arid out of'35 stalkers only two had shot the 10 old ; hinds. What.was wanted for the work was practical men with a knowledge oi the ■ district. ' .... ;■ f-%'-;' ; Mr Butterworth said that : one leason for r .chairman had said was that the; 1 motors had broken down. He thought they < should take some advantage of the stalEers/f for deeir culling. He commented on,the fact: that there were only members or the council": present. With regard to poaching, they; 5 should say that no true sportsman be a poacher. The Society could not.'do'a; groat deal, during the war, but he : 3ibped it would now get to-work in the matter; = r His great idea_ was, fur-bearing animajfc / People were paying enormous sums for furs, and the.opossum ijrovided quite a useful fiir.'j Let them keep tnis little industry in their.-. own centre. ' ..; Mr lsiip referred to the necessity for ing the Water of Leith of rubbish and,rer fuse, and said he thought the City Couhqil' e :: attention should be directed to the subject.-;-: He moved that the attention of tie be drawn to the necessity for clearing -the : Leith of debris, and that it De lequested ■ to take steps to remedy the present position./ The motion was carried. . ; ,- The Chairman said poaching been-' treated/rather lightly. It was deplorablethat poaching. should goon as it did: "Her hoped everyone would give any information? available as to poaching. •■-. ;;,:;:.' Mr Peilett: There should be a term of fin-.-i ■ prisonment instead of a fine for dynamiting '"■'. and liming rivers, and then you would ieaf< no more of it. ' . ■.-■-: - -:.■'.:.. ;;];-;: On the motion of the chairman a "vote: of thanks was passed to the staff, 'the namesv of Messrs Steven (now resigned), Peilett, and < IHanning (secretary) being specially men-, tioned. . . . ';? It was also resolved, on the motion of the/ chairman, that a bonus of 10 per cent, be paid to members of the staff for the past / ■year. ■ ■ . •: .; • \ r ij A specialvote of thanks to the hon. trea- " surer (Mr Baker) concluded the meeting. .-;• ■'..."■