ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLVI, Issue 21363, 5 June 1939, Page 9

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY

Meeting of Council

Sale of Shooting Rights

Discussed

A bigger volume of business than usual both in open meeting and in committee was transacted by the Council of the South Canterbury Acclimatisation Society when it met at Temuka on Saturday.

Before proceding to formal business the chairman (Mr J. McDonald) said he was pleased with the results of the annual meeting, and particularly with the return of all the Council members at the election of officers. They had been a happy family working unitedly in the interests of all sportsmen in South Canterbury, and he was sure they would continue to do so. The Rotorua Society advised that it had rainbow ova for sale, and it was decided that 100,000 ova be procured for the re-stocking of the Society’s lake waters. South Island Conference The secretary, South Island Acclimatisation Society (Mr C. W. Hervey), wrote that Friday, June 30, had been tentatively fixed for the annual conference of delegates at Timaru. He invited subjects for discussion at the conference.

The chairman indicated that the date was suitable to him as the Society’s delegate, and asked the Council to frame remits to the conference.

This prompted Mr M. Metcalf to query what the status of the delegates from the Waimate and Ashburton Societies would be at the conference.

The chairman replied that under the present constitution he had been appointed to be the joint official delegate for the Waimate, the Ashburton and the South Canterbury Societies. Delegates from Ashburton and Waimate would be admitted to the discussions at the conference but would not be allowed to vote. Before the last conference he had written Waimate and Ashburton, suggesting that they should send their own delegates to put forward their views even though votes were withheld from them. Ashburton was represented by the chairman, Mr Millichamp.

Mr E. Macdonald said that in his opinion every Society should be officially represented at the conference, and on his suggestion it was unanimously agreed that this question be introduced by the chairman.

Mr R. McLeod said that the conference should look into the question of farmers selling the shooting rights on their properties. It was all right when a farmer reserved the shooting rights on his farm, but when he sold them it was equivalent to selling the ducks on his ponds and this, was then getting beyond the odds.

The chairman said it was a pretty big question and was rather interfering with the rights of farmers. It was easy to draw up regulations but it was difficult sometimes to enforce them. They should be careful that any remit they forwarded to the conference should have a reasonable chance of being passed. Subsequent to further discussions Mr McLeod moved and Mr Stevens seconded that it be a remit to the conference that the selling of the shooting rights on private property be prohibited.

Mr Smillie: Well, I don’t think we shall be able to enforce it. The motion was lost.

Whether or not a property owner should have the privilege of transferring his shooting rights to anyone else was also considered. The chairman asked was it worth while going into the subject, and was the number of such transfers so great as to warrant the devotion of much of the Council’s deliberations to it? The secretary (Mr B. Hughes) said there was a number in the Society’s own area, there being between 30 or 40 such transfers. Mr Stevens moved and Mr Smillie seconded that it be a remit that the privilege of the occupation of any property to delegate his shooting rights be withdrawn, with the exception to other members of his family. The chairman: I am as keen as anyone to improve the conditions for the shooters and I am myself as keen as anyone else to go shooting but I am against anything that interferes with the rights of farmers. The motion was carried. The Department of Internal Affairs wrote asking the Society’s approval for the appointment of the curator-ranger as a ranger under the Game Protection Act in the district of the Waitaki Society. This was granted and Mr Stevens said it might be an opportune time to ask the Waitaki Society for reciprocal shooting and fishing privileges along the boundary of the two Societies. It was agreed to do so. The treasurer (Mr H. G. Ellis) reported that the receipts for the month amounted to £97/16/7, and payments to £498/15/7. There was a credit balance of £5OB/12/11. Curator’s Report The report of the curator ranger stated that during the month, general ranging work had been carried out. The fishing season closed on April 30 with the rivers in a low state and were at date still in the same condition. The game shooting season opened on May 6. Good bags were obtained by some but others were not so successful. There was plenty of game about and an indication of this was to be found ton the sanctuary at Washdyke. Two breaches of the Animals Protection and Game Act had been detected. Hatchery operations had now commenced and traps were set to catch the spawning fish. There was a large number of salmon in all the streams at present. They were as far up as Winchester in the Waihi river. This was mostly accounted for by the low state of the Opihi river, the fish being diverted up the Temuka and Waihi streams. Salmon were being caught in the traps set in the Opihi and the Temuka rivers. Some fish were full of eggs. Salmon and spawning trout were being caught in the traps together. The Under-Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs, Wellington, wrote that the Minister has decided to give effect to the Society’s recommendation for a close season for opossums this year. It was agreed that at its next meet-

ing the Council consider the fishing regulations. Because of the trouble the Waimate Society has had in regard to the tenure of some of its reserves, the Council instructed the secretary to inquire into the position of its reserves and to report at the next meeting. Saying that it was high time that something should be done for the shooting sportsmen in the district, and that he proposed to introduce at next meeting the question of developing quail shooting, Mr Stevens moved that the secretary secure prices for quail from other societies. The motion was seconded by Mr J. E. Green and carried.