THE ENDORSING OF LICENSES.

Otago Witness, Issue 972, 5 September 1889, Page 26

THE ENDORSING OF LICENSES.

To Jook Scott,— Dear gi r . i h ave noticed that of late the Angling column has devoted a great part of its space to the endorsing of licenseo question. What, I ask, has brought about this state of affairs? Why have tbe Otago Society taken such severe measures as to refuse to endorse all licenses ? There must be come good reaßon for this action, I am sure, or the gentlemen who constitute the council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society would never publish abroad that they meant to carry such a severe law into effect. So far as I can learn from anglers and others who are supposed to know, the cause is this [if I am not right in my assertions perhaps "Jock Scott," who ought to know, or some of the members of the Acclimatisation Council will put me right]: some twr years ago, I think it is, the Sonthland Sooiety reduced their license fee to 10s, Of course all the anglers living in Gore and on the borders thought that it would be a great saving if they took a 10s Southland license and then get the Otago Society to endorse thiß license, so that the holder of it could fish in Otago waters as, well, several good streams— in fact threeorfour of thabest— being inclose proximity to Gore, where the > balk of the Southland licenses are issued, I believe, After some correspondence, thia the Otago Society agreed to do provided that, the .license Bhowed on its fapa that 20s had been paid for it. This v?m

all very nice for the Southland Sooiaty If they could only get the Otago Society to keep .it up, and they must have chuckled to themselves that year, when they came to count up the stamps, to notice that they were nearly £100 better off than they were the year previous, and the Otago Society were £50 poorer than they ahoald have been. Of course the Otago Society were not going to standstill and see their revenue quietly slipping through their iiDgars they would have been great fools if they had done so; and the Southland Society have only themselves to blame for the very decided action that the Otago Society have now taken. What the Southern society should have done— and which would have been only fair and just to Otago, seeing that these license holders had the lion's share of fish out; of the streams near Gore —would have been to hand over the extra 10a that these endorsed license holders paid to the Otago Society, who were clearly entitled to it, considering that they stocked the streams in the first place, and have yeariy spent large sums in keeping up the stock, not only of brown, but also Loch Leven, American, brook, and Scotch burn trout.

Is it not a notorious fact that Gore anglers almost cleaned out some of these adjacent streams, notably the Mimihau, Ofcaria, and Waikaka, and that these streams will practically have to 'be re-stocked this year ? I know for a fact that several Dunedin anglers went to the Otaria last year, but only to return disgusted, for they counted on only two miles of the water nearly a dozon Gore anglers all hard at work. Theße anglers, I may Bay, I' know personally, and better men never threw a fly or spun a minnow, and if fish had been anything like as plentiful as they were two years previously they would not have departed to other streams where there was a chance of throwing a fly without putting it into another angler's oar. But ,1 think I have said enough 'about this unfortunate affair. My only hope is that the two societies will come to an amicable arrangement and not try to cut each other's throats in this grabbiog for license money. lam sure any true angler would never grudge paying £1 for a license, the best way that I can see out of the difficulty is fop_, the Southland Society to raise their license fee to 20s, and have some arrangement whereby they both divide the border license holders' fee, for it is manifestly unfair that Southland should want the whole of the fees' considering that it has so little to offer to Otago in return, the distance of her best angling waters from where the bulk of the Otago license holders reside being alone quite sufficient to keep them from making much of a raid on Southland streams. Perhaps some of the Southland Society's officers will say that they endorsed lots of Otago licenßea last year. Now, Sir, so far as I can learn some six or seven license holders in Dunedin did send their tickets for endorsement, but they did not all go to Southland nevertheless, the season not being a very favourable "one for fishing its rivers. And '• these Otago. endorsed license holders : where did they go to fish, do you think ? On purely Southland streams ? No 1 in almost every case it waa the upper waters of the Mataura that were selected by these gentlemen ; and if any of my readers know anything about that river and will just make a mental picture of the banks they will at once concur with me that the best ripples and pools are all on the Otago aide of the river ; hence it was hardly necessary for them to get their license endorsed at all if that was the only stream they wished to fish ; and in their case I believe it was. This, then, only leaves the Oreti and Otamete for Otago license holders ; whereas Gore has the Waikaka, Mataura, Otamete, Waipahi, Kuriwao, Waiwera, Pomahaka, and Mimihau, all within a few hours distance. Which has the bast of the bargain if Otago endorses Southland licenses free gratis ?— Yours, &c, Pike, Dunedin, September 2. P. S.— Sinca writing the above I have learned that the Council of the Otago Society have issued a circular explaining their action in this matter. They will, I believe, endorse any bonafde visitor's license provided he hold a 20s license issued by some other New Zealand acclimatisation society.