LAND AND WATER.

Otago Witness, Issue 2533, 1 October 1902, Page 54

LAND AND WATER.

A party of prospectors on the upper fetches of the Hokitika River the other day ;ame across one of the female moose liberated in that district by the Government. Pbe animal, they state, was exceedingly y»me. None of the bucke liberated at the fame time were seen. i •*(, Mr Sandow's claim to be the world's .£hampion athlete is disputed by Professor jjWiliiam Miller, a -well-known Melbourne wttdete, who- has challenged Sandow to meet .■> JitiffiP&i'* series of coiitegfar in the Olympian ~ > £un«e.for £100 a- side. The contests would tnefade heavy dumb-bell lifting, wrestling, c Boxing, fencing, sword v. sword, and foil v. .- [^According to the Wheelman, therefore *t ._ jtowent -about- nine motor" carp and 20 motor OOicydie^.m -Cantermury. Three of the , taotor cars are owned by doctors. », A - regatta club was recently started at fflloeraki, with » membership of 35. A Working committee of 11 members (including {office-bearers) .was formed' to arrange for folding a regatta at the port-. The meeting jWas very enthusiastic. L The two Germans, named Bohlke and flDerschow, who recently started on a walking [tour round the world for a wager to be won fin the condition that they relied solely on j jthe hospitality of the world, doing no work fxuring their travels, have (says an Adelaide (paper) quarrelled, and the tour has been abandoned. 1 A eplendid specimen of a white tui has Hust been placed in the Wellington Museum. QjHE WORLD'S SCULLING CHAMPIOtfSHIP. LONDON, September 25. IWny has challenged Towns for the championship of- the world in England or America. SCowna refused, but offered to row anyone on Ife* Parramatta for £500 a-side. SWIMMING RECORDS. LOJTOON, September 24. Cavill swam 100 yards at Hornsey in ]R 3-6 sec, which is a record. September 28. . '. Cavill beat Billington in a 300 yds awim- • fcing-race at' Liverpool. Time, 3m in 84 3-ssec. Sinnfe awata 160 yds in Imin 36 3-se«c. Both are Tecordi., .-• -'-. " COURSING. . A meeting' of tho committee of the newlyUffinetl Dunedin Courting dub was held in jCourt'a.Hotel last night, when I£ was decided, vxem- coru, to make a written offer to the For!»veji ' Park "Company -for the use of an tn- - jClosuxe within 'the park for a term of five years, vna, in the event of their offer being accepted, Ho call a general meeting to authorise the issue Tbf membership tickets, etc. The salo of 150 membership - tickete is already assured, and, Wyerything taken into consideration, this club "bids fair to become the premier coursing club ft the colony, V ". OTIGO A^GLEBS' ASSrCIATION. The twentieth annual meeting of the Anglers' Association was held in the (Victoria Hall on Thursday, Mr R. Chisholm (president) being in the chair. The attendince was limited to about 20 members during the business part of the meeting, but this number was very largely increased by the time the smoke concert was held. An ipology was received for the absence of Mr ,0. D. R. Richardson. The. Treasurer (Mr P. Ai'tken) read the balance sheet, which showed a credit balance ] . of £22 6b, a slightly less sum than the credit I balance of last year. I . The Chairman moved the adoption of the j teport (already published) and balance sheet, j and said he "would' "hot detain the meeting jwith- any remarks as they had other business to transact, and it would be a mistake to delay , matters. Mr J. -B. M'Callum seconded the motion, Jrhich was carried without discussion. _ Six new members were elected. ,\ ~i&x A. Anderson, in moving the re-election 'of Mr R. Chisholm as president, referrid the good service that gentleman had ojds [in the past. Ho was sure he would co ( equally good service in the future. Mr having been re-elected to the (position, thanked members for the honour Jthey had done him. He could assure them ! ithere we're very few things in which he enJigaged that gave him more pleasure than - [matters pertaining to angling. It was one !of those matters in which one felt perfectly at home, and one always felt that they were surrounded by jolly good fellows. The interest he had taken in angling in the past would certainly be maintained in the future. On the motion of Mr Aitken, the number of vice-presidents was increased from two to six, and those elected were Messrs A. 'Anderson, R. Forrest, S. M'Donald R. Coghill, C. P. M. Butterworth, and R. T. [Wheeler, jun. The reappointment of Mr A. E. Jenkins us secretary was moved by the Chairman in nighly complimentary terms and carried. Mr (P. Aitken was re-elected treasurer, and Mr J. F. Peake- auditor, and the following comtnittee was appointed: — Messrs G. Crow, P- Cooke, J. B. M'Callum, H. G. Williams, S. Prout, R. Long, C. D. R. Richardson. B. Crust, J. Barnes, and H. Islip. A letter was received from Mr H. Isaacs, and with it was forwarded a box of New Zealand minnows for competition among toembers of the association. The gift was deceived with thanks, the secretary to reply to Mr Isaac 3 that his present would be awarded as one of the prizes during the toming season. ' Mr M'Callum drow attention to the fact that the association had been in existence for 20 years, and to the good service the Secretary and treasurer had done for it. He thought, seeing they had such a balance in hand, that they should recognise their services) in some way, and moved that £4 4s be set aside for the purchase of suitable presents. — Mr Coghill seconded the motion, and Mi Seeke miggfsfrid that the »eU©Uoa

of suitable presents should oe left to the chairman. — The Chairman said he was quite prepared to make the selection, but he would like to see the amount made up to £6 6s. — Mr M'Callum was quite agreeable to (he increase, and the motion was carried unanimously in that form. This concluded the business of the annual meeting, and the social gathering followed, at which there must have been considerably over 100 anglers and their friends present. Card tables had been prepared in readiness, and these were very quickly occupied, the favourite game apparently being euchre. Mr D. Cooke, who had the musical arrangements in hand, had eathered together plenty of good talent wherewith to amuse and entertain the company, and the programme was opened by an orchestra playing a selection in capital style. 'Mr A. Wright then favoured those present with a song, and an innovation, as the chairman remarked, was then introduced in the shape of a bagpipe selection played by Mr A. Gray. At the conclusion of the next song, sung by Mr Errington, The Oh*irman, rising, said he had to congratulate anglers on the iac* that this year, as in previous years, they would be shouldering their rods on the Ist October. They weTe indebted to a very great extent to Sir J. G. Ward, the Acting-Premier, for having done his utmost to get the Fisheries Conservation Bill put on the Statute Book ac quickly as t»ossible, so that it would become law before the Ist , OctobeSr. -Every angler was very much indebted to him for this, because *hey would have been in a bad fix if the bill had no% been on the Statute Book before' tine Ist. " An objectionable feature of the bill .had been eliminated, and that was >that those who had property alongside *• fishing stream, while tijey-nught fish themselves, could not delegate that right to anyone else. Another thing he was delighted with was that the method of selling the right to fish rivers had been put down. They enjoyed many advantage? living in a democratic country. There was no country like ours: there was no country to compare wlfch it. To think that we could, by paying &1 for a license, fteh any stream in this fair land was what any angler might be proud of. It was a thing we ought to - be deeply grateful for, and he hoped anglers would appreciate what had been done for thenu The Anglers' Association could not appreciate too highly the interest tiha* had been evinced in the association by the circle of friends round aboufa them. Mr Chisholm wenit on to say that it was seldom an association could muster such » respectable lot of men aa wiere then sitting round the tables. — (Laughter and applause.) There ■were a number presefuto who were not anglers, and he wanted to tell them that the soonsr thiey became anglers the better. The association; was otve of the* best in Duneditt, and it had had a chequered career. He then referred to the first anglers meeting held in Dunedin, since- when the ' association had gone on flourishing. The pleasure of angling was" one of those uainga that could not be described, but it was enough to make any man's hair stand on end-^if he had any. — (Laughter.) He proceeded to draw a vivid picture of an angler' a paradise, and of trout-catching, and .said <tuoee Who wefre 1 not anglers did not know what they were losing by remaining outside the craft. He < hoped those who were not anglers tpould, join., and .when, they once struck a &eh they, would never give' up •angling until their dying day. The best thing about an angler was this (lie. did not care wh-sre he wa3 picked up) : iiiey wxtuld (find him one of the finest fellow* they had: <ever come across. If they met* him on the bank~of a river, and he had a flack, as sure aa anything he would have it out ; if he had hi» pipe, it would be out; and if a Bnuff box, he would give them a {pinoh for certain. — (Laughter and applause.) MV James Rich-axdeon referred to tJie fact that though most of the streams had a rceerve along theii- banks, there were cases ■where fchafr was not so, and almost alwaya 'bhe owners of property where that was the ■case* very obligingly allowed anglers to go ■thorough their property. Ifc w-as a privilege that deserved some recognition at the hands of the Anglers' Association, and h© proposed that the hearty thanks of the Anglers' Association be accorded to such prope-rty-ownera who had in the p&st allowed anglers to fish upon their properties. — The motion was carried atnidst applause. \ The musioal programme was then resumed, j the orchestra playing a selection from "The j Belle of New Tork." Songs were subsequently $jiven by Messrs Fester, Clarkson, M'Donald, Han'on, and Warsaw. A vote of thanks waiS passed to these who- had provided -tine music on the motion of Mr M'Callum, <fche vote being acknowledged by STr Cooka, who had supplied the accompaniments during the evening, and • the social closed with the hearty singing of 'Auld la-ng sync." ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY. The* monthly meeting of the council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society was held en. Friday afternoon, there being present MeasrsA. C. Begg (chairman), S. M'Donald, ?' «' Wh&eler . J u n-. C. D. R. Ric-hardson A. C. Stronach, J. Edgar, A. E. Farquhar, T. Brown, R. Ohisholm, J. Roberts J Sinolair Thomson, D. Russell (secretary), anjj F. De-ams (manager). The following report fcr the month was submitted by Mr F. Deans: — Pl^P 1^ past month has been a busy one, through attending to the spawning of the stock fish tUe ova, and the hatching operations. The .Loch Leven and Scotch burn trout are nearly t ,£r ed> nnd tlie brown trout are hatching i fast. The latter has every appearance of being a strong a-nd vigorous hatch. The total number of ova obtained at both hatcheries up to date is 859,500, made up as follows —Brown trout, 872,000; Loch Leven trout, 194,000; ] Scotch burn trout, 91,000; brook trout, 30,000; rainbow trout, 160,000; salmon, 12,500. The total number laid down at the Clinton hatchery is 581,500— namely : Brown trout, 172,000; Loob Leven trout, 167,000; rainbow trout, 125,000; Scotch burn trout, 91,000; brook trout, 14,000; salmon, 12,500. A case containing 5000 rainbow ova has been forwarded to Ceylon, one of 35,000 to Perth, Western Australia, and orders for 95,000 rainbow ova are still on hand. There 1 »s a considerable number of stockfish ova, par- , ticularly the rainbow ova, proving to be un- ( fertilised. Tins is disappointing, as the fish were apparently- in good condition when they spawned. Mr M'Cormack has finished the various concrete works at the Clinton hatchery, including the p ccc of leaky race, the three junctions, and the gateposts. The tree* about the hatcheries and the ponds are getting too high, and Mr Steven has been cutting them back, vrhich means a good deal of extra labour. The weather has been anything but favourable for the opening of the season, but anglers should not be too eager to get on the rivers ' oa the Ist, m the laxite amount oi anow. as,

the high country will keep the streams up and the water cold for some time. I ccc that »\ seizure has been by the Southland Society at the Bluff of 59 trout, weighing 3751b. This -was a nice haul, and caught by men who would stare if you called them anything but honest fishermen. From the fact that scarcely any indigenous fish were found in their possession, it is only reasonable to assume that they had been fishing specially for trout. We have uo intimation whether their boat and nets were seized, but, according to clause _ 7 of •' The Fisheries Conservation Act, 1884 these were liable to be confiscated. In all probability a large and remunerative trade may be going on by smuggling our New Zealand trout into the other coloniis. la it any wonder we have been unsuccessful in acclimatising the aa moa° The report was approved. ««j o+v The Canterbury Acehm. nation Society wrote asking if the Otago Society would lend . delegate to the proposed conference of societies for the purpose of discussing the advisability of forming an Acclimatisation Association for the whole of New Zealand, or for th© North and South Islands. It was felt by the Canterbury Society that widh an. association would be of very great a«aL=tance, and wouKl be able to make more effective representations to the Government on matters of importance. It would also be of great assistance in getting legislative ■measures uut on a much better footing.— It was resolved to appoint Mr Begg a delegate to- attend tiie proposed eonferaace. Th© Chairman said, in reference to t*ie society's" protest against Mr A. R. Barclay's proposed clause in the Fisheries Conservation Bill, that come replies had come in. Mr T. Mackenzie said that he would oppose 'the clause with all his- heart.' Mr James 'Allen said he had.-^en Sir J. G. "Ward, who •would bring- oh the bill ac mjou as' possible, j 'Mr J. A. MiHar r -s«id ho would /give the | 'matter careful consideration when the bill-| oame before tihe House. Sir J. G« Ward 'bad replied that be would' give the ma.tter his consideration. Mr A. R. Barclay wrote at some length to the effect that lira clause | bad been misunderstood and mi-sreprosented. The Marine Depart.nve.nfc wrote on the subject) of a request made by the Otago Society for 5000 BritkJfc salmon fry for breeding purpose* that the Minister did not eoe his way to distribute any fry of the salmon- now in the ponds at Hakatramea. at present. — Received. The Tourist- and - Health Department, Wellington, wrote in reference to a> letter from the society tbafe they were prepared to contribute £100 towards the importation of ■big; game, Government having full discretion in the matter of distribution; that they were endeavouring to get other societies to contribute on the same basis, and .they hoped to bring iihe «iggested importation to «> successful issue.— The letter was received and approved. It was .resolved to appoint Mr Alexander Grieve to represent the society on the Upper Mimibrau. The Chairman made reference to an article appearing in fcbe Otago Daily Times on the subject ©f tea fisheries and sea trout. He had no doubt the article was well intended, but ifc showed a warnt of knowledge of the subject. Mr Begg went on to quote at length from the article, and pointed out that,, as all anglers knew, trout and fish of that) species must spa-wm in fresh water, and could not possibly become . a thoroughly sea-going fish. If fixed nets were allowed in the vioinity of the mouths of rivers ib would be very dangerous, -as it wa» well known that the fish going i from, the rivers kept ajong the shore, and would thus get entangled in the nets. There might not be so much objection to drift ■net» if they could be controlled in suoh a way as to prevent abuses. Ten replies to their circular had come in from various societies, who eaid they objected to any such permission being given for the use of drift nets more tha,n a mile course. He •thought that the Southland Society would ' J)pobably take action an connection with the arge haul of fish recently at Inveroargill, to see what they could do .in -the I ■way of stopping netting. If they could not stop it, something would have to be done, possibly in the way of legalising it on payment of a fee. If netting was legalised it [ ■would only be in the way of drift nets to be need at considerable distance from the mouths of rivers. It was de'eided that the chairman should •wrifceu^o the newspaper on the subject of its arti(Se. Accounts amounting to £13 6s were pasted for payment.