THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIC, Issue 13601, 22 May 1908, Page 2

THE ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

annual mkkting. rin> annual meeting of tlit? South j terburv Acclimatisation Society was held | at the Criiwii Hotel, Temuka, yesterday afternoon. The meeting was very well attended, about forty members being p repent. Tin- president- for the past year, Mr J. S. Rutherford, took the chair, and thp vice-president, Mr I'. Palliser, and nearlv all members of the Council were present,. Messrs D. Taylor and F. Brown, of the latter, bent apologies. The following new members w.-iv proposed and elected —Messrs J. Priest, G. Ward, I". 11. King, W. and It. J. McCallum. The -report and balance i-heet having been distributed, and published in the newspai>erß. the president formally moved their adoption. He said that- he had verv little to add. Regarding deer stalking" mi Albury, this had had ihe effect of scattering the deer. One had been seen at Austin's. Albury, one near Mr Guthrie's. Burke's Pans, and a third near R'ollesby. Canadian geese had been sun en the island in Lake Tekapo, and near the Mistake Station; these geese were therefor- spreadingIn reply to Mr P. G. Allen, th e seerlcary explained that the report and balance sheet, had bt_-.ii sent out before being finally adopted by the Council, owing to unavoidable delay in getting a meeting. The expenditure of £2l 12s on the Opihi and I'areora reserves included £ls of rent. The " honorarium to chairman £lO 10s " was a vote made to last year's chairman, but paid this year. Mr Allen questioned the wisdom of paying 2s 6d each for shags' heads; the total £27 lCs was' too much to spend for this purpose. He had reason to believe that the majority of the sliags' paid /or vere white-breasted, salt-water shags; while it was the black, fresh-water shags that did the mischief, if any, and he did not think these did much harm. Ho thought- it likely that most of the shags were -.shot on the beach. —The secretary confessed thathe did not know the difference between white and black shags, bub lie knew that the majority of the heads came front the interior. Mr Granger had paid most of the money. He had £5 in ,hand for the purpose at the end of the year; that had been spent and Mr Granger had drawn for £lO more since the balance sheet was made out. He had himself received 86 heads since the close of 'the year, all ftom the interior. He wished |>eople 'v.ould send only the upper beaks, the heads became a nuisance by the time they reached hint. Mr K. Stead contended that the shags did good rather than harm; the eels were the ■ worst. Mr Allen said lie saw heads at Timaru, and they were Leads of sea shags. The Otago Society spentover £7O last year on shags' heads and at the annual meeting :i protest \ as made against the amount' of this expenditure. Mr Allen moved that the incoming Council be recommended to cease paying for fchags' heads and eggs. .Mr J. Tindlay moved as an amendment that the price be reduced to Is for heads, and fr.r a dozen egg:*. The president said he sympathised with the motion, and he thought true sportsmen would shoot shags *■ henever they could. The motion to discontinue the payment was carried by a large majority.

Mr L. 15. James called attention to the item " pheasants £10," and eaid it was a waste of money to spend it on birds that would be poisoned by the farmers. Snipe or water fowl would be more l'kely to succeed. The secretary said that £IC

was an old liability. As for import ing birds there were diflicultiu> in the way ; they could import none without the sanclion of the Colonial Secretary. This had been applied for in connection with a proposal to import. Australian Stubble quail, and it was refused, on some objections made by Auckland fa liners-. Mr James said it would be no iij-c bringing in stubble quail; they would'- be poisoned off with the sparrows. The secretary said they might lose on snipe too; they might sail awit-y to Siberia and never come back.

Mr I'. Foster asked whether the expenditure on ninging could not be reduced—£269 out of a net revenue of £490 was too much lo spend on ranging. The Utago Society -"-pent only one-eighth of its income on ranging, and tlih> .Society more than half. He doubted whether the reMilts were adequate to the ccet. The secretary explained that the expenditure included the payment of three rang-:rs for a part of the year, till the Council reduced the number to two. A proposal was made that tlie Council be recommended to consider the exjjenditure on rangei-o and on this Mr James Hay remarked that one of the most important duties of the society was to put down poaching, and that, they would be justified in expending the whole of their income in pursuit of that object. He suggested that men should be engaged in the several* districts to assist ihe ranger when called upon, to make "raids'' on poachers.—Several members agreed with Mr Hay, whilst also deprecating the large proportion of the expenditure on ranging.—The (secretary pointed out that " mids" on poachers* were impracticable, could only be successful by accident, because reports of poaching were not received until 'after'' 'he event.—Mr Scaly approved of Mr Hay's suggestion. Mr F. H. Barker asked how it would answer to lestrict the hours of night fishing, to close the river, say troni 11 p.m. to 5 p.m.—Mr C. Nicholas said that would juot suit the poachers. There used to be a rule of that sort, and when the anglers went home the poachers went out. So long as there were anglers about the poachers kept away.—lt. was agreed to recommend the Council lo consider the cost of ranging. Mr W. Beckingham raised a discussion on the question whether it was necessary to pay 5 per cent, (total £22 12s 6u) a« commission on the sale of licenses, and after some discussion -it was resolved to recommend the Council to ieduce the commission lo per cent., the argument being that sportsmen would undertake the work to help the .Society. Mr C. J'.". Hassell introduced a long discussion on illegal fishing—" strokehauling," by means of weighted hooks. He suggested restricting fisning in certain streams to fly-fishing only; or the refusal of licenses to those who were known to be guilty of unfair fishing. The ranger should have power to inspect an angler's gear.—The secretary said the legal definitions covered everything in use.—Mr Hassell recalled the exhibit the Council had had befoie it, obtained by [ diving to the bottom of a pool—an arrangement of lead and cod hooks, with an artificial minnow added. Another way to stop that tsort of thing would ue to declare the big holes "sanctuaries," and forbid fishing in them altogether. This was received with laughter, but Mr xiiissell's next suggestion was approved. Another way to stop stroke-hauling, lie said, would be to sink sacks ballasted with shingle, so that the loose bagging would catch the hooks, or wire-netting could be used for the same purpose, anglers using little or no lead in such places.— '* Xow you are getting at it, : ' and " Bagging it> best." were comments on this.—Dr Hayes suggested limiting the weight of lead, and the Hccielary pointed out that to make such a rule effective the ranger must carry a steelyard with him. and a lamp at night, to weight the lead by.— Mr I'. Foster objected to restricting the river to ily-tishers. though he was one himself.— Mr Tasker proposed limiting the weight of catches, to tray 4U or S(J pounds.—Finally the whole matter was icferrftf to the Council, including Mr Tasker'rt proposal for a limitation of the weight of baskets. The report and balance sheet- w> re adopted, and the president retired froml tlibr chair. The election of a Council for the ensuing year was then taken. Messrs I l\utheiford and Seblaepfer were re-elected

unopposed for Mackenzie County, and ballots were taken for Timaru and lciiiuka, the following being elected: Timaru, Messrs A. C. Pringle, P. Foster, 0. K Hasscll, F. Brown, and G. K. M. Jones; Temuka and Geraldine, Dr Hayei:t, Messrs J. Findlay, -W. H. Brown, P. "Coira, and J. Ogilvi'e. , I ilr Sealy made somo inquiries about- the stripping of ova from fish in the Opihi, and was informed that the Government had given a quid pro quo, in the sliape of rainbow trout and in various ways. Mr Sealy went on to question the wisdom of so n:<any ova being taken awav. He understood that one to one a, half millions weio taken every year. The authorities estimated that under good natural conditions 5 per cent, of the ova. becomes fish, and under bad conditions only two per cent. Suppose that three per cent, would mature in the ieiinika, tor every million ova taken away *' ic y lost 30,000 lisli, and not -aewi only, but also their progeny, which ?n ten years would amount to a very large number. The rivers were becoming do pie ted, and that 30,000 per annum would make a dift'-'ience. The upper reaches of the rivers were now almost emptj' where ioimerly there was good rishing. Ihe Society should do all tiny could in the way of restocking, and one way would be to get the (;<jvernnienL to give them fish for the ova tlicv took away. It would not do to cease stocking because some people were poaching ; they would be poaching ill any catse; and if the Society did not keep up liie slock they would lose their revenue ; he knew some Timaru anglers who would not take out licenses next season because the two last seasons had been so poor. Mr Sealy thought the Society should undertake the raising of fell on its own account, and of fish irom some other streams —(Mr Allen, and of fish that are not seagoing.)— The Opihi was a very favourable river, anglers and poachers -being the only enemies of the fish. It would be an advantage to get ova from Tongariro river where trout ran up to 301b and over, and Lake Taupo was full of fish. He recommended that another effort be made I > stock Lake Alexandrina with rainbow trout. Those trout flourished in the North Island lakes, and he thought Alexandrina -would suit them still better. Eels would be a drawback, but the rainbow was a prolific and a vigorous fish, and might be able to hold its own against the eels. He liojied the Council Avould consider the matters he had mentioned.

Mr Mannering, from his experience of rainbow trout advised that they be put where they could not easily get to sea, or otherwise' they would be lost. They did not require running water, but would thrive in a dam. He thought Lake Alexandrina would suit-'them extremely" well. In reply to a remark that the Government had placed American white fish there, Mr Mannering said this was a good market fish, but it gave no sport, it- had to be netted.. . The important thing in regard to rainbow he repeated, was to liberate them where they could not easily get to sea.

'J he secretary said that he had received a telegram asking whether Mr Ayison could strip fish at Temuka this year as usual. •He saw no harm in it; and it was :mportant to keep on good terms with the Department.

Mr Tasker recommended liberating the fish for re-stocking in the best waters of the rivers. When liberated near the sea they went out rather than up scream, whereas if liberated high up. anglers would have a chance at them all the way down, and they would take some time in getting down. Mr J. Raine spoke of the foiling as better fiyc-and-twefity years ago than it was now. He said Lake Alexandrina was an ideal place for rainbow trout, and he recommended that more attention should be given to stocking the headwaters and the small streams of the Mackenzie country, which was now much more accessible than it used to be, and people liked to get well away from home for their holidays. This concluded the discus.sion and Mr Tasker proposed a vote, of thanks to the chairman and to the members for the interest they had shown in the meeting. Mr Allen added a vote to the outgoing Council for their attention to the business of the Society during the fast year. Mr Rutherford thanked the members for turning up so well and assisting tae Council by making suggestions. lie hoped they would continue to do so.

After the general' meeting- separated the newly-appointed Council met, and re-elect-ed Mr Rutherford president. Mr Jones, in proposing this, said the feeling of the meeting had evidently been in favour of doing something with*the upper riveis and Lake Alexandrina, and for that Mr Rutherford would be right on the spot.