NOT WANTED

Southland Times, Issue 25305, 7 June 1935, Page 8

NOT WANTED

OVERSEAS STALKERS DEPARTMENT’S ATTITUDE CRITICIZED NO ENCOURAGEMENT GIVEN That the Department of Internal Affairs cannot be a party to encouraging anyone to come to New Zealand for stalking is revealed in correspondence which has passed between the department and the National Rifle Association of New Zealand.

Recently Sir Lionel Fletcher, president of the National Rifle Association of Britain, sent a request through the High Commissioner of New Zealand for a red deer head to supplement the collection of sporting trophies in the National Rifle Association pavilion at Bisley. Already there are over 100 trophies of the chase in the pavilion, including one sent by the Governor of Sierra Leone. It was felt that New Zealand, which provided the King’s Prize winner in 1919 and which has had close associations with Bisley, should be represented in the collection, which creates the keenest interest among the thousands who annually visit this historic range. An outstanding head was secured from the Wanaka district by the New Zealand National Rifle Association and is now being mounted in Invercargill. Feeling that it was a matter in which the Government Was directly concerned, the association approached the Department of Internal Affairs with the request that it should defray the shipping charges to London. Department’s Reply.

A reply was received from the department that the request could not be granted, the letter containing the statement: “The .Department cannot be a party to encouraging anyone to come to New Zealand for stalking.” At the annual deerstalkers’ dinner held in Invercargill last evening, a number’ of speakers voiced the strongest protest at the attitude taken up by the Department of Internal Affairs, it being emphasized that other Government Departments were, through every available channel, striving to increase the tourist traffic to New Zealand. The gathering, which was representative of all parts of Southland and which included, in addition to some sixty stalkers, prominent local body officials, passed a resolution protesting against the self-imposed policy of the Department of Internal Affairs in declining to encourage anyone to come to New Zealand for deer-stalking. The matter was introduced by Dr. A. R. Ritchie Crawford, president of the New Zealand Rifle Association. He quoted excerpts from the correspondence passing between the National Rifle Association and the Department of Internal Affairs, including the statement to which such strong exception was taken.

“In order to be quite fair to the department and to give it the opportunity to retract a statement which might on reflection be deemed ill-con-sidered,” said Dr Crawford “I to-day sent a reply paid telegram to the department asking if the letter in question (I gave the number on the file and the date) was ‘final and considered.’ The reply I received read: ‘Yes. Regret not possible to vary decision’.” Government’s Policy. Referring to the Government’s policy relating to deer shooting, Dr Crawford said that the Government spent approximately £5OOO a year in the destruction of deer, whereas in some districts where Government parties were operating the scheme could be selfsupporting and better results would accrue, with no expense to the country. The Southland Acclimatization Society had announced its intention last year of spending £lOO in culling in the wapiti country and also agreed to devote the whole of the license fees received in further culling, if in return it were given jurisdiction over the wapiti herd, the only such herd in the Southern Hemisphere and one which was producing heads ranking as the world’s best. The speaker emphasized that the herd was a national asset and its existence was a magnet for overseas sportsmen. Speaking of the money spent in deer destruction by the Government Dr Crawford said that the general opinion of sportsmen was that more satisfactory results would be obtained were a bonus on skins instituted. This would distribute the money over a larger area than at present and would give employment to many. “High-handed Action.” Instances were given by stalkers present where Government culling parties had been sent in to stalking blocks reserved for overseas sportsmen only a few days before the visitors took up their block. The case of Lord Latymer in South Westland was cited. It was stated that two seasons ago he was subjected to “galling interference” by a Government culling party. The “high-' handed action” of a Government party in sending home a number of Southland stalkers from Manapourij this season and refusing them the right to go into the deer country for stalking was quoted. “It seems absurd that a party paid for destroying deer should thwart another party anxious to effect the same purpose,” was the way one speaker put it. On the motion of Mr W. R. Mabson, seconded by Dr Orbell, the following resolution was carried: “That this gathering of Southland stalkers, representative of all parts, of the province, strongly protests against the self-con-fessed policy of the Department of Internal Affairs in declining to encourage anyone to come to New Zealand for deerstalking.” It was decided to send a copy of the correspondence and the r* solution to the Southland members of Parliament and to the Tourist Department. A Contrast. In view of the attitude of the Internal Affairs Department it is interesting to note that lying on the reading room table at the Invercargill Public Library is a copy of the English Fishing Gazette containing a large advertisement inserted by the New Zealand Tourist Department inviting English stalkers to come to New Zealand.