RE GUN LICENSES.

Timaru Herald, Volume XIIIC, Issue 14275, 16 August 1910, Page 2

RE GUN LICENSES.

'ln tlm Editor til the "Tiniaru .Herald.'' ■Sir, —I sec tho Acclimatisation Societies are busying Uiemsel ve,-> hi the direction of tho j;uii iu-i.'iiscs. i tliiuk 1 voice the. .general opinion of spoilsmen when L say that tins creation ol' gun licenses throws shooting into the hands of the privileged classes. imagine a nuu'i earning oOs to GOs per week, with a- wile aud tamily, having to pay a gun license,'in addition to paying the present enhanced prices ol' cartridges. These now cost from Ills to 20s per hundred, •as against 8s Gel to 10s a. few years poor sportsmen would have to discontinue the pursuit. While this may possibly be the object in view, I would point out that to limit the number of sportsmen by such means is ungenerous and unsportsmanlike. It seems unreasonable lor it few private gentlemen, •such as compose the Acclimatisation Societies, to try such a measure, for the sake of ail isolated duck or .two, which the majority of sportsmen never see. There must be hundreds of rabbits and hares shot for every duck sighted. I'or the Government to sanction such a measure, while at the same lime, compelling the destruction of rabbits, would be to make itself ridiculous. A ''Cockatoo' 1 to slaughter "Jiror Rabbit ' in his backyard, would, in the future, have to pay tor the privilege! Even if rabbiters were exempt, 1 should say there were 101) rabbits shot by sports to ■every one shot by rabbiters It is a, mistake to copy English methods like gun licenses in this country. Cannot the Gun Clubs take the matter up?—l am, etc., ANTI-GAXIE LAW.