ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXV, Issue 16, 17 January 1913, Page 3

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

MONTHLY MEETING. % A meeting of the Acclimatisation Society was Held last evening when there were present: The President (Mr. W. P. Kirkwood) and Messrs. G. U. Hunter, H. Campbell, and W. J. Morrison. A Close Season? The Chairman stated that the meeting had been convened to consider the close season question. Mr. Kirkwood said that had the Society not had an open season the financial position of the- Society would have been in a somewhat serious condition. He was of the opinion that the season should be opened for one month this year, and that thp choosing of the month should be left to the separate societies, to select a month that most suited their district. He moved that the Government be urged to open the season for one month, and that the support of other societies be obtained, if possible, to carry the proposal through. Mr. G. D. Hunter, in seconding the motion, said the first thing to be ascertained was whether it was possible to have an open season.

Mr. Kirkwood: No; it’s not impossible. The Government can, by Order-in-Oouncil, grant one month, if they think fit.

Mr. W. J. Morrison opposed the motion. He thought, first of all, that the idea that the Society was going to get any revenue out of opening the season for one month was a fallacious one. From what he gathered the men who took licenses out last year were not too well satisfied with a month’s shooting, and this year, if the same arrangement was made, there would be nothing like the same number of licenses issued. Conditions were utterly different to last year. Another matter was, that for the sake of a solitary £1 the Society was going to let a man destroy £2O worth of birds, provided that man was any good at all with a gun. As the meeting was a sparse one, the speaker said he would not like to see this motion pressed. Mr. H. Campbell was also opposed to the motion. If the Society had a close season this year, it might not be ne-

cessary to have to purchase birds next year, as the present stock might breed enough to save buying. As far as ho was personally concerned, a month’s shooting would suit him very well, but he was looking at the matter from the point of view of the best interests of the Society. Mr. G. D. Hunter remarked, in the conversation which followed, that it would not be a real close season, if the month’s shooting was Hot granted. Whether it was a close season or not, there would bo any amount of shooting done. Conditions were different to hist time, but not to a very great extent. Ho urged that the services of an outsider should be obtained as a ranger, and every effort made to secure a conviction. It was imperative that somebody should be trapped, and this illicit shooting stopped. Even now the guns were going.

Mr. Kirkwood: What, shooting at this time? Mr. Hunter: Yeg. The motion was then left for a more representative meeting to affirm or negative, and the meeting adjourned.