TO BE SPURNED?

Southland Times, Issue 25308, 11 June 1935, Page 7

TO BE SPURNED?

OVERSEAS STALKERS DEPARTMENT’S STAND CRITICIZED MR MABSON’S VIEWS “The leading article in the Southland Times this morning admirably) sums up the farcical position existing between the Department of Internal Affairs and the Tourist Department,” stated Mr W. R. Mabson, president of the Southland Deerstalkers’ Association, when asked if he had any comment to make concerning the Minister’s reply to the resolution of protest at the attitude oi the Department of Internal Affairs to overseas stalkers. “There are, however, one or two other points I should like to bring out. , , . , “The Minister declared that the department was not going to hold thousands of acres for overseas sportsmen, the inference being,that acclimatization societies have sought the conservation of such areas year in and year . out. Actually all that has been asked is for the reservation for one month in the year of certain areas remote from settlement. It cannot therefore be said that the societies are desirious of conserving deer at the expense of settlers. In fact they a«e anxious to co-operate in judicious culling operations, as was mentioned in the case of the Southland Society at the deerstalkers’ dinner. “When the Southland Society asked for a short season for wapiti in the country south of Milford Sound a reply was received from the department which clearly showed its ignorance of the position. In the letter it was stated that close seasons for wapiti might effect ‘not only very extensive damage to the native bush and steep hill country and thousands of pounds worth of damage to valuable grazing country in the valleys and low-lying grass-lands, but seriously menace the safety of lowlying farm lands, and indeed animal life of all sorts along and adjacent to the course of rivers fed from the watersheas “As applied to the waipiti area the remarks concerning damage to grazing country and farm lands are unwarranted. This, the only wapiti herd in the Southern Hemisphere, produces the best heads in the world, and it seems opposed to the best interests of the country that not even a short season should be proclaimed in order that overseas sportsmen can stalk without the interference which has in the past been so galling. “Judicious culling will always have the support of stalkers, but I can say with conviction that much of the culling being done by the Government parties is not judicious. They are too prone to go into remote areas, where the deer are not damaging settlers’ holdings, because they are anxious to secure good tallies. It would be far better if they operated on the fringes of settlement where unquestionably landholders have suffered from the deer. There is a great difference, too, between killers and cullers, and too many of the Government parties belong to the former category. “In all the correspondence I have seen from the Department of Internal Affairs on the deer question in Southland, there seems to have been a regrettable ignorance of the conditions obtaining at this end of New Zealand. This is borne out by the Minister’s reply. “Finally,” said Mr Mabson, “there was the Minister’s reference to overseas sportsmen taking only one or two heads from a block. From the tourist point of view, what does it matter whether they kill one or a hundred deer? If they come to New Zealand .and spend, say £5OO deerstalking, can we afford to declare that we will not encourage them? Surely it is the policy of the Government through its /Tourist Department to encourage by every legitimate means the patronage of overseas sportsmen. Its sporting _ attractions are one of the Dominion’s greatest assets from the point of view of tourist revenue. “Only the other day I read a Calcutta sportsman’s glowing tribute to New Zealand. He had shot a fine 16pointer at Manapouri and on his return from the West Coast he expressed the opinion that a great many Indian sportsmen would visit New Zealand if its sporting attractions were better advertised. Do we want these sportsmen? The Tourist Department says ‘yes,’. the Internal Affairs Department ‘no.’ It would be a Gilbertian situation were it not so serious to the prosperity of the Dominion.” HERDS DETERIORATED SPORT IN THE RAKAIA. Commenting on a statement in w’hich Invercargill deer-stalkers were reported to have protested against the attitude of the Department of Internal Affairs in informing the National Rifle Association of New Zealand that it could not be a party to encouraging anyone to come to New Zealand for stalking, a North Canterbury sportsman observed that at any rate in the Rakaia. which had 10 or 15 years ago produced some of the world’s finest red deer heads, the herds no longer offered inducement to English tourists to come so far solely for the shooting. First-rate heads once plentiful in that district were now a definite rarity, and he understood similar deterioration had taken place in other parts of the country. The deer in the Rakaia country had been introduced as long ago as 1897, and stalking opened in 1907. The heads that had been taken out of the valleys at the headwaters of the Rakaia, Wilberforce and Mathias Rivers in the course of the following twenty years excelled anything that had been shot in Scotland in the course of centuries. One of the best heads recorded in the Old Country was that shot in 1831 by Bob Cumming, of Banffshire, which carried 17 points and measured 38|in. long by 30J outside spread. Against that the Rakaia herd could claim a 24pointer, shot by Mr G. Sutherland, and measuring 43Jin. long by 46? in. wide, and a twenty-two pointer, with a length of 40in., and a spread of 47|. Any number of other large heads, comparing more than favourably with English park-bred deer, had been recorded by the North Canterbury Acclimatization Society. Deer Numerous; Big Heads Rare.

It was incorrect, said the deerstalker, to think that good deer-stalk-ing meant large heads. Indeed, where the deer were numerous big heads were rare. The old stags were seldom accompanied by many hinds, and as soon as the herds became numerous, and attracted deer-stalkers, they left the district. Most of them had already been “under fire” and avoided any possible repetition. In that way culling and deer shooting did not spoil the stalking for the real enthusiasts, who were after good heads rather than mere killing. The trouble was, however, that the shooting was carried on quite indiscriminately, and helped instead of preventing deterioration of the herds Today, in the Rakaia, large heads, or ones with more than twelve points, were very rare. There were numbers of pretty little heads to be seen on young stags, but these would probably be shot out before they attained maturity. These folk, who usually added to their in-

come by the sale of the skins, preferred to exterminate a small herd so that they would have a number of skins close together and handy for packing out, rather than shoot single beasts. In consequence numbers of malformed and inferior stags escaped. Another thing to which stalkers objected was that the killers refused to allow even a short respite for the stalking season, but often made a point of shooting over a block of country which they knew was to be occupied by stalkers. In consequence, any good heads left the district. . “It is in the deer-stalkers interests as much as in the farmers,’ that the herds should be reduced as far as possible,” stated the sportsman. “That they will ever be exterminated, I take leave to doubt. But in the meantime it is a. sport for which New Zealand can remain unequalled, and it seems a pity to throw it away. Until the deer are actually shot out, I think facilities should be provided for those who wish to shoot i them.”