River Pollution In Southland

Southland Times, Issue 23389, 22 December 1937, Page 4

River Pollution In Southland

Anglers will welcome the public announcement by the Southland Acclimatization Society warning factory managers and farmers against allowing “noxious or injurious matter” to enter streams and giving notice of its intention to prosecute if the warning is disregarded. When action of this kind is threatened, the cry is usually raised that valuable industries are being persecuted in the interests of a few sportsmen. The owners of factories and plants causing pollution declare that the steps necessary to abate the nuisance are so costly as to be prohibitive. But the fact remains that there are industries of all kinds which take steps to prevent pollution and are yet not at all worse off than competitive firms which, on the ground of economy, tip their waste products into the streams. Some years ago there was a successful prosecution of a dairy factory in Otago for polluting the Silverstream. The Farmers’ Union took the matter up and asked the Government then in power to alter the law. Sir Francis Bell heard the union’s argument, which was that the prevention of pollution would be expensive for industry. His reply was that this was exactly the. argument that the opponents of the abolition of slavery had used, and that if it was valid, slavery should be reintroduced as it would be less expensive for industry. The claim is made also that factory and farm effluent does no injury to fish. During a season of flooded streams, like 1936-37, this may be largely'true, but the situation is very different in a dry year such as the present. The smaller water flow and higher temperature increase the toxic action of the effluent and undoubtedly cause mortality among trout, quite apart from the public nuisance that arises from the putrid water. Within five miles of Invercargill, in the Waihopai and Waikiwi streams, pollution has been going on for years and its effects will be readily seen by those who are sufficiently interested to make an inspection. Raw sewage from a populous borough is discharged directly into the Mataura river, and the condition of the river at the exits of the main sewer is often most offensive. The Acclimatization Society has been unable to take action as it cannot prove that the effluent is harmful to trout. It is even held that the presence of effluent is an advantage for the fish. The view of the Health Department; it is understood, is that th? proportion of pure to polluted water is such that no great harm is done. But if the officer responsible for such a statement were obliged to drink from the polluted area he might alter his views. Certainly anglers visiting the lower Mataura regularly take their drinking water from town. In older lands many streams that were once clear and beautiful have been ruined by industrial and other pollutions and are now practically public sewers. One result, in England, has been the formation of a Pure Rivers Society, a body of public-spirited men who have attempted to educate the public to the value of pure, fresh water. In New Zealand the people have not yet awakened to the importance of pure streams as a public 'amenity. It is to be hoped that the Southland Acclimatization Society, now it has given notice of a campaign against pollution, will not hesitate to make the campaign effective; and that factory owners and farmers will do everything they can to co-operate. The question is one that might be considered also by the recently created National Council of Sport. Many believe that the law against pollution should be made more stringent, as in some cases a prosecution cannot succeed until fish have been killed wholesale. Angling is becoming more and more popular in New Zealand; in Southland it has possibly more followers than any other sport. Anglers will therefore deserve as much consideration from the Council as any other class of sportsmen. But the preservation of pure streams is a matter of wider importance than that; and any move towards it should have the sympathy and support of all sections of the people.