PRESERVATION OF BIRD LIFE

Southland Times, Issue 24769, 13 June 1942, Page 6

PRESERVATION OF BIRD LIFE

Sir, —In reply to Mr Sanderson’s letter of June 4 1 wish to say that I stand firmly at the side of Dr Anderson who is one of those unselfish men who support a subject not his own. Dr Anderson’s questions were good sound ones which Mr Sanderson dare not answer. About five years ago when. the albatross was discovered at Taiaroa Head a committee from the Royal Society of Otago was formed to devise means to give the birds some protection. Individual members (whose subject was not birds) guaranteed the cost of the fence (£5O) in order to get it up quickly. Several local members of the Forest and Bird Protection Society, some of them life members, .wrote Mr Sanderson, confidently anticipating a donation for such a practical project. When Mr Sanderson arrived in Dunedin, at my own expense and. time I took him out to the birds (20 miles). He agreed to a donation of £25. I took him home, entertained him, and showed him my albatross slides. Before leaving I asked him about the procedure in getting the donation and was told to leave it to him.

I next heard elsewhere that Mr Sanderson stated it was against the constitution of the society to grant money from the funds. He had, however apparently as a face-saving device, decided to open a list in his next journal which contained an article and two photographs of the albatross. The material for the article and one photograph were collected from a committee man and the second photograph from a friend of mine in Christchurch. The article was written up in Wellington by a sub-editor who informed me of the fact. Does it not seem strange behaviour to ignore me in this matter? Why did he not come to' me? I was later informed that Mr Sanderson was not going to give money to*aid me to study the albatross.. In view of his above-mentioned behaviour and subsequent letters to me I choose to believe the statement. The list was closed after two issues of the journal and the Royal Society, not myself, as stated, received nearly £2O. It was not the Bird Society’s money that was handed over. It will be apparent from the above that the Bird Society did not assist with the albatross work from its funds, nor did Mr Sanderson contribute towards the £2O. Will he and his society help with the Herekopare fund? I know another society which is supplying' £l5. Will he beat that?

I dislike contradicting such an expert on albatrosses as Mr Sanderson but Campbell Island is not the main breeding ground, as he infers, of the Taiaroa Head birds, for the latter are a different race. Further, what right has he to state that the Campbell Island race is hampered by sheep? Has he been there? Has anybody studied, the question? At Taiaroa Head neither sheep nor cattle molest the albatrosses. Mr Sanderson does hot like the study of individual birds, but actually, what does he know about birds other, than by reading American literature which he freely quotes in his journal? How is it possible to study an individual bird and not its habitat? L. E. RICHDALE. A member of the Forest and Bird Protection Society. Dunedin, June 10, 1942.