OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Otago Witness, Issue 3673, 5 August 1924, Page 9

OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

MONTHLY MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Council of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, held on the 28th ult., was attended by Messrs C. P. M. Butterworth (president), Cowie, Williams, Howes, Aburn, Rutherford, J. R. Wilson, Reid, Eungerford, C. A. Wilson, Long, White, Holmes, King, Stewart, and Dodgshun. The Angling Committee reported, inter alia, the receipt of communications from Mr L. F. Ayson, Marine Department, Wellington, advising that the Minister had instructed that, after supplying Atlantic salmon eggs required for the Wanganui River, part of the balance wag to be used for the Clutha River and its tributaries. That on account of floods and failure to collect sufficient salmon eggs the department had decided to allow the society the use of onehalf of the hatchery at Pembroke, on certain conditions. The secretary of the department had written asking the society to send on for identification two female and one male rainbow trout from Lake Hawea. Tire committee recommended that the ranger be asked to get specimens for the department later on, and that specimens be also procured for the society’s office. Orders for ova had been received as follow Wellington Society, an extra order for 500,000 brown trout; Department of Internal Affairs, 250,000 rainbow trout; North Canterbury Society, 20,000 rainbow trout; Waitaki Society, 40,000 rainbow trout. A report from Mr D. Urquhart, Hav pea Flat, on bis operations with the trout net at Lake Hawea had been received. Mr J. J. O’Kane, Alexandra, had granted the use of his hut at Timaru Creek. He asked if he could get some rainbow trout for the Alexandra Borough dam. He also suggested that the season for fishing and netting in Lake Hawea open in November and be extended beyond the regulation closing date. The committee recommended that Mr O’Kane be thanked for the use of the hut, and that his application for rainbow trout be noted. Further, that an application be made to the Minister of Marine to alter the date of the fishing and netting season in Lake Hawea from October 1 to April 30, to November up to May 31, in each year. The clerk of the Drainage Board, Dunedin, had advised that the society’s application to place a (ish trap in the Leith had been granted eubject to the work being done by the board’s staff at the cost of the society, and that it be understood that the permission for the trap was*terminable at the pleasure of the board. The committee recommended that board be thanked, and the matter be- left in the hands of the sub-committee appointed to act in the matter. The committee recommended as follows: —That the Ballarat order for 50,000 brown trout ova and the Geelong order for 100,000 be filled in full, and that 50,000 of the 100,000 ordered by the Hawera Society be sent meanwhile; that Mr Holmes be asked to report as to the feasibility of putting a fish trap in the Shag River; that the Mataura and Wyndham Angling Clubs be allowed £lO each towards the cost of clearing the banks of rivers in their districts. The recommendation from the Hatchery Committee to call for tenders for the purchase (for removal) of the old house as it stood, and for the pheasant houses, had been approved.—The report was adopted. The Game Committee reported the receipt of an intimation from the Department of Internal Affairs that a further sum of £IOO was being made available for the destruction of deer in the society’s district—£67 in respect of unprotected areas and £33 in respect of areas where deer were still protected. The committee recommended that a protest he made against having to spend the £33 on the destruction of deer in the Tapanui district, and that it be spent on the Hawea district. The secretary of the Taranaki Society had written suggeeting that an absolutely close season for shooting be declared for a few weeks prior to the opening of each shooting season. The committee recommended that a reply be sent that it was impossible to give effect to the sugggestion. The Game Committee recommended as follows: —That the cablegram from Mr Cobbold, Ipswich, England, inquiring what stalking leloeks in the Makarova district are available for next season, be held over till August 1; that Mr Crawford Anderson, Stirling, be thanked for his offer to enclose a small area on the edge of the lagoon on his property with wire netting if the society sent him some of the Australian black duck, also that it was advisable to leave the birds in the Botanical Gardens rather than put him to expense in the matter; that the request of Mr W. J. Burgess, of Tarara, Owaka. for some quail for that district, be noted; that a letter be forwarded to the State Forest Service regarding complaints of poisoning and taking of opossums before the opening of the season in State forest reserves in the Tapanui district, the department to be asked to take steps to prevent a repetition of the poaching in future; that the dates for the red deer stalking season for 1925 extend from April 1 to May 20.—The report was adopted. As a result of some discussion as to the collection of ova, it was resolved that 150,000 brown trout ova be retained for the society's own use.

It was decided to liberate quail in the following localities:—Between Waihola and Taieri Mouth; Minaret Station, Pembroke; Middlemarch, and Mount Catkins.