BIRO SANCTUARIES

Taranaki Daily News, 27 September 1933, Page 8

BIRO SANCTUARIES

KAPITI AND LITTLE BARRIER NEED FOR SUPERVISION. PROTECTION SOCIETY DEBATE. The general executive of the New Zealand Bird Protection Society at its monthly meeting yesterday, set up a sub-committee to arrange for a visit of inspection to Kapiti Island, preparatory to requesting the District Commissioner of Crown Lands to call a meeting of the Advisory Board. The president, Mr. E. V. Sanderson, said that he had noticed that a writer of nature notes in the Press had again advocated the introduction of further species of birds to Kapiti Island. It seemed to him, in view of the many past failures in this direction, that if money were available to assist the efforts of nature, it could be spent in more profitable directions than in such haphazard experiments. For instance, greater effort could be put into the attempt to exterminate opossums. Work aimed in this direction had gone on for many years past without achieving the desired object. Indeed, since the good work done in eliminating other plant-eating animals had been carried out, there appeared to be an inclination to rest on the oars. Then, again, it was quite an inexpensive work to dam the stream at the south end, which would have the effect of making an invaluable lagoon. This water would help to save the fast disappearing grey duck and other water fowl, which would transfer themselves without cost to the taxpayer or other sources of revenue. A small . nursery could be established, and the product planted out on the many vacant and partially covered areas at the proper season. It had to be borne in mind that Kapiti, having very little forest growth on it, had a long way to go before it could become a first grade sanctuary. It must not be overlooked, however, that a considerable amount of planting had been done during the last few years. The work on this sanctuary, as on others, required supervision. POSITION OF ADVISORY BOARD. The advisory board had not been called together for some years, perhaps because some of the members had either left Wellington, or, as in the case of the most expert member, had been incapacitated through an affliction. Under the circumstances it seemed to him that such a body as the executive, should suggest to the departments concerned the advisability of the executive functioning as an advisory board with reference to the Kapiti and Little Barrier sanctuaries. Under such a scheme two competent members of the executive would inspect these sanctuaries, say, every three months, and report as to the various necessities, and the progress being made with work in hand. The proposal which ‘he was suggesting had been emphasised to him by two leading authorities as being likely to much improve the progress of the sanctuaries, both of which had caretakers, which, in the case of Kapiti at least, had eliminated poaching. On the motion of Mr. J. R. Kirk, a sub-committee,' consisting of the president, Mrs.- Knox Gilmer, and Mr. B. C. Aston, was set up to report upon Kapiti Island.

DANGER OF INTER-BREEDING. The president said that a recognised scientific authority in Auckland had recently stressed to him the probability. of imported disease having been the most potent factor in the rapid decrease of native bird life, and expressed the opinion that the birds were now going through a process in an endeavour to establish immunity from foreign diseases. It was suggested that if certain bacteriological blood tests were undertaken by a scientist competent to do so that information would be obtained with reference to this probability. This phase, said Mr. Sanderson, had been emphasised by Dr. Myers, of the British Museum, and other scientists, and had long been considered a likely probability by himself. Early ornithologists considered that the bell-bird and whitehead were extinct, or nearly extinct, in the North Island. These species were now very plentiful, and probably on the increase, and it was likely that they had successfully gone through the process of establishing immunity, and that birds like the huia and the piopio (the latter of which was known to exist on a certain sanctuary) were now going through a similar effort to establish immunity. Such matters as these were a potent argument against the importation of foreign species, and indeed the transferring of indigenous species from one locality to another.

“There is another very dangerous side of the acclimatisation question ■which should not be overlooked,” Dr. Myers had stated. “Once a sanctuary is created in a favourable situation, there is a regrettable tendency to stock it, or wish to stock it, with species of native birds not already present, but confined to different localities, or even to other islands. In the case of the confusing medley of species and varieties in the kiwis and the wekas, this practice leads inevitably to . inter-breeding, and perhaps prevents for ever the elucidation of puzzling forms. It is species we should preserve —not mongrels.” ( The president moved: “That a letter be sent to the Internal Affairs Department, asking it to ban the use of bird lime in the taking of live birds, and that all collectors be directed strictly to comply with the Act governing conservation and the sanctity of any bird sanctuary upon which they may be permitted to operate.” The motion was seconded by Dr. C. H. Morice, and carried.