FEES FOR GAME LICENCES

Southland Times, Issue 23768, 16 March 1939, Page 4

FEES FOR GAME LICENCES

INCREASE OF FIVE SHILLINGS HINTED SHOOTING IN SOUTH ISLAND A hint that an added 5/- will have to be paid for game licences in the South Island this season was given by the Hon. W. E. Parry (Minister for Internal Affairs) in an interview with The Press, Christchurch, on Tuesday night. The extra revenue will be devoted to a special fund for the extermination of pests. Licence fees had been fixed at 30/- in the North Island, said the Minister, and 5/- was set aside for a central fund to be used in eradicating the vermin that preyed on native bird life and game. The increased cost of licences in the north was brought about only after long and serious discussion. There was no use breeding birds and liberating them to be consumed or destroyed by vermin. “The conservation of native birds and game in this country is very important,” said Mr Parry, “and as a result of the very great investigation I have made since I have been in office, I am determined to do all that is possible to preserve the birds and game and to give opportunity for future generations to enjoy the beauties of the native bird life. It is up to every sportsman to assist in the work of conserving the bird life of the country.” In the North Island, the Government had discovered, one society paid subsidies on the extermination of vermin, while the adjoining society did nothing. As was well known to everybody, vermin were migratory and the only way that they could be satisfactorily dealt with was by extermination efforts, through a central fund. That had been done in the North Island, yet it was important that the work of eradication should be done nationally. The work had to be done in the South Island as well as in the North Island, said Mr Parry.