THE Thames Advertiser. Favour to none; fear of none; justice to all. THE SHOOTING SEASON.

Thames Advertiser, Volume XXIX, Issue 9295, 10 March 1899, Page 2

THE Thames Advertiser. Favour to none; fear of none; justice to all. THE SHOOTING SEASON.

With the near approach of the shooting season our local sportsmen are beginning ti) wonder wnetlier the Acclimatisation Societies are again to commit the mistake of last year, and delay the opening of the season until the Ist oi May. In the early dayssome twenty-live years ago—the season opened on the Ist oi March, but upon the introduction of the game • laws in the colony the lßt of April was made the day npon which sport with the gun commenced —an arrangement that has always had a great aeal lo recommend it, and with which virtually uo fault could be found. Latterly, however, the Acclimatisation Societies made the date the Easter holidays, and subsequently the season was made to open on the Ist of May. This ac-' tion has naturally aroused a feeling of the strongest discontent amongst genuine lovers of sport, since the time is most inconvenient for the vast majority oi sportsmen amongst the majority of the working classes, and it virtually restricts the shooting to the ranks of the leisured class. In the course of a lengthy article, in which the whole question is discussed, the Manawatu Standard points out that "to make matters worse tho alteration of the date was not general, some districts adhering to the old date, and some adopting the new one, this condition of things greatly facilitating the operations of the poachers, who, if questioned as to wherti they got their game, had only to allege that they shot it in an early district, and it was almost impossible for any ranger to contradict them. For this reason, and the fact that tho Ist of May is not suited to a largo number of people's opportunities for sport, the experience of last year goes to show that the poachers got all the best of the sport, the cream of the birds being taken before the legitimate sportsmen were 1 at liberty to go 'out and try their skill, and this must always bo the case so long as the Societies are without a perfect army of rangers and a universal day for the opening of the season is not adopted. But probably the greatest injustice inflicted upon a large section of tho public by the delay in opening the shooting. season, and the same cause is also an. incentive to poaching, is that by the month of May the Easter holidays have passed over, and, therefore, the working classes, who enjoy a day's sport as much as any one, are deprived of their i

principal opportunity of going out with their dog and gun. We cannot C suppose that the action of the Accli- ■ matisation Societies in deferring the opening' of the season was intended ° to bar the artisans, and conserve ths p shooting for the leisured classes, Imi a such has been the effect of their action—that is, upon such of them as Jj conscientiously observed the law. { Doubtless plenty of others, chaffing f under the restraint put upon them j during the holidays, have .taken, and t will again take, the law into their own s hands, and chance the consequences, t This is by no means a desirable state J of affairs, and can best be remedied by fixing one day for the opening or ( the season in all districts, that day ( to be the one which long experience | has proved to be the most convenient for all classes, namely, the Ist of April." It is to bo hoped that the Auckland Acclimatisation Society will at once take action in this direction. There is a growing feeling throughout this distriot that the Society is merely "run" in the interests of a few individuals, and we must admit that its actions for some time past have shown that'there are good grounds for believing that this is the case.