ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Timaru Herald, Volume CVIII, Issue 16822, 30 May 1919, Page 4

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

ANNUAL MEETING. Tiie annual meeting p? the South Canterbury AcOiiimatisalCwn fe-v-cxi-y wa» held yesterday. (Mr H. Goodwin) presided, aril there were .thirty present. The president-made iy is 'atactic reference tip the.death of n3 late Mr H. T. Clinch, who, he said, Lao been their treasurer tor some ye.i s a.id i» vory vaiuaKe member of ijh'o Cuinoil of the Society. -Mr Goodwill n<.v*d •• r. btion of sympathy * ;th th e widow and family of tka deceased.

This was carried by n*nt.«ote. The president said tbe:'.'report anid balance sheet baa be?n published aid he moved its a'Joptio.n. Mr J. S. Rutherford sitoioVd the motion, which was carried without discussion.

The eledtion of officers then took place, the new Council being constitutfid as follows:—H. Goodwin, A. M. Jameson, p. J. MiUten, G. A. M. Macdonald, E. Bllackmore, A. E. Bean, A. E. Lewis, O. B. Sticking*, W. McBride. Foster, Neil, and J. S. Rutherford. Messrs Pigdtt and Pringle did not offer themselves f*r re-election*. Mr J. Lawrie asked what would be the .attitude of tdie Society towards the original! hut-holtilers at the Opihi. He had not been in South Canterbury for some years till Lately and wished to congratulate the Society on the improvement in the reserves.

Mr Goodwin, said theue were four "years to run of the existing lease of the old Op'-hi reserve, and it was impossible to say now what wtould.be done at the termination of the leasK The Society were in the hands of t!he owner of the reserve; but the Council had done all they couM to protect the in'fc-srfsts of their hut-holders by securing another reserve cucse to the old one. It was certain that the Council would do all they coujkl to protect the interests of the original hut-holders. In reply to Mr L. B. James the president said 'he wouid be in favour of renewing the lease of the old reservoir .the owner asked a reasonable rental. But if an e2cmrh..tant rent were asked he would bis in favour of cabling a, meet.ng of hut-holders and get them'to aecide whether they were prepared to pay what was asked. The Society had iaid down this principle thalb t!he reserves must be self-supporting, and +h:s being so hut-hoJders had to pay. . la .reply to Mr Lawrie the president said that a title could be obtained for original "reserve if it decided to purchase it. In reply to Mr Oorbett the president said the Council proposed to continue to purchase shags. Mr A. E. Benn said tihey must urge war on the shags. If they did not do this it. would be useless to restock the rivers. The shags killed more fish than were tailled by anglers. Mr Mil'ton sa : d he was pleased to se? that Waimate had agreed to co-operate •with other Societies in destroying sibags. The president agreed that this was vary satisfactory- The South. Canterbury Society had done a good deal in the' wav of destroying shags by organised effort. At Lake Alexandrina they •had'cleared the rookery right out, and thry would have cleared' the Pareora rookery if the Waimate Society hiad co T operated with them. : Mr'CorhN>fc said they were ouV_ feeding shags bv turning out fish while so many of 'tihrse destructive .birds-were about. The president said ifce South Canterbury Society had been handicapped m this matter owing to tihe.-fn.cb thaft Waimaft? and North Canterbury hid not been workiaJ.tr in with them. .Mr Stead, of the North Cantfa-bury Society, advanced quite a lot of scientific argument! to supnovt his theory thalr-' sharrs did 11:0 harm. (Ironical' laughter) ■Mr Beivi paid, there s*Wild be a system bv which every Society should be competed to buy shag's heads. The president said the would be 'dea't with' at the coining conference of Acclimatisation Societies. -' In reply to Mr ~R. H. Ferguson the president said that the Cotiincp would see that the gprse fences on the Opihi received attention". Mr D. Smith asked if there was any likelihood of their getting a good mouth permanently at the Opihi.' The president said-the official report from the Government engineer had not yet been received, but he b!*A learned unofficially tfnat it would be of a very encouraging nature. This concluded the business of the annual meeting. At a meeting of the Council held immediately afterwards Mr Goodwin was proposed for the position, of chairman. Mr "Goodwin however, said, that he would be leaving for America sh'ortI ly, and as he would be away -at least five months he could not see h;s way to accept the chairmanship. Mr Millton was then ejected' chairman, and Mr J. S. But'berford vice- , chairman. "Auditor,-Mr "WV D. Revell. Delegate to the uonfißrenee, Mr MeWil.e Jameson. , * Mr Goodwin mentioned that - the Council had been successful im securing another reserve of '.'six acres' at the Oplii. down, towards Mara's, at a rental .cf £1 a year. .There were already fo"" huts on it- . '--..; . '. . This was considered very. fntistacttßryi On the mdb'.on of Mr.l/cwis a hearty vote of thamiks was passed to Mr Goodwin for bis nble conduc-f, of the busrness' during tin"; year, special references being made to the fine annual report, which ho had d'-awn - up—the best i« was said, that the Society had had fo--" 'many ve-ars. •.•■■->■

Mr Goodwin was also -wished- good luck on his trip to America, and a safe and speedy return. ■■■'.■■•■