THE DEER QUESTION.

Southland Times, Issue 22106, 29 August 1933, Page 7

THE DEER QUESTION.

To the Editor.

Sir,—“.3o3” claims he is’not a botanist, but he is evidently a naturalist. He is blaming the deer for the disappearance of the lance wood. There are two kinds of lance wood, P. Crassifolium and P. Arboreum. Some years ago one of the largest manufacturers .of handles for umbrellas and walking sticks in England had a number of men employed in New Zealand cutting down suitable tree shrubs which they required, including in their list lance wood.

The naturalists and botanists have evidently changed their nom de plume to deceive the public, for instance, “Nat” faded out and “.303” blooms forth. I think John Graham (self-made merchant) advice to his son Pierpont is worth quoting: “He allowed that they were the liveliest little fleas that he had ever chased. Decided to quit trying to nail ’em one at a time, and planned out something that he ■ reckoned would round up the whole bunch. They looked mighty homesick, you bet, and I reckon they sort of sized me up. I want to milk .them coming and going twice a day, and

milk them dry.” A trip to the Irish Bum appeared in your paper edited by G. Jaquiery, who was accompanied by Mr N. J. Dolamore, Conservator’ of State Forests. Extracts from this account are as follows: “The deer and pigs have only recently got into the valley so the undergrowth was still in evidence, but the deer tracks made the going good. It was raining and with 351bs on one’s back and sinking in moss up to the knees was irksome. At 5.30 we struck an ideal camping place. A small stream had uprooted all the forest trees and planed the surface clear of stumps. A tremendous regeneration of young beech trees gave the appearance of a grassy paddock. Next morning we came on to a tussock flat with beech trees about in a manner suggesting artificial planting. Another spell of bush whacking, we hacked our way towards a cascade leaping from the bush clad hill.” (This article proves that Nature comes to the rescue.)

J. H. C. reported his trip from Hauroko Burn to its source. In the Seaforth Valley they came on a formed track in the midst of the forest Overgrown with trees three inches in diameter. Some eight miles of track exist which cost £2OOO, and it is tragic to 3 it in its present condition. .(Nature again asserts itself.) No. 3 party reports a fortnight trip behind Lake Hauroko: “We only saw one deer on the whole trip. The weasel has conquered our defenceless ground birds, and it is only a matter of a few years before the weka, kakapo ana kiwi are extinct on the mainland. What are the B.P.’s doing to preserve them? Propaganda they indulge in won’t save the birds. The B.P. s No, 3, edited by E. E. Muir, seems to me to be their platform to frighten the public as follows: <1) N.Z. forests are they doomed? (2) Are floods more frequent? (3) Hydro-electric works endangered. Regard No. 1: Some of our oldest and leading sawmillers have stated that they fail to see any damage done by deer in our Southland timber forests. Number 2 and Number 3: Now, Sir, if E. E. Muir had read "Saga of the Stations” in your paper the experience of runholders 50 to 70 years ago, he would have known the floods were more severe than our present ones are. Fancy losing 20,000 to 30,000 sheep in one flood! I can remember the big flood in the seventies. The house I lived m can be seen by any one passing through to Dunedin; it is a railway house alongside the railway about 300 yards south of the Lovells Flat railway station. This house was built on six foot piles ana the big flood came • in that house 18 inches. As a boy I used to skate on the

Kaitangata Lake. I have seen two feet of snow on the road and up to six feet in the drifts. Forty years ago when I lived in Riverton we used to go down to the old bridge to watch at flood times the heterogenous stuff that came floating down the Aparima, and we really expected the remains of Otautau to appear on the scene. Now times have changed; the Otautau stream has been attended to. Swamps have been drained, bush cut down. The result is less rainfall and less dangerous flooding. Southland will be as dry as Canterbury in say fifty years’ time. The Fiord country is not fit to live in at present. What with almost continuous rain, moss, blowflies, mosquitoes and sandflies; it badly needs to be opened up with roads; the streams cleaned up from log jams and stocked with trout.

W. Stone and party repeatedly have made the strenuous trip to the Bull Country, the sources of the Upukororo and Eglington rivers. The sturdier cattle can be found at a height of five or six thousand feet. In the summer months they prefer the feed on the mountains as the bush which covers nearly the whole of the lower parts of the valley swarms with flies and other insect pests. The North Islanders are jealous of our dual monarchy in wapiti and moose, and also of having the distinction of being the only waters in the Southern Hemisphere in which Atlantic salmon can be caught. Sportsmen the world over make New Zealand an annual hunting ground. Here they obtain sport in unparalleled variety and in unmatched abundance. The Southland Acclimatization Society may have made mistakes in handling difficult problems; but with its practical colonial experience and annual advices and information from stalkers and explorers with wide world experience, it is better able to manage the almost unknown Fiord country than the theoretical faddist who declares the shag ought to be protected, and the owl must be destroyed. Increased population is what we require vood motor roads back and beyond and the high-powered rifle and careful practical management will solve the difficulty.—l am, etc., H, H. TWEMLOW. West Plains Ro?d, August 25, 1933.