EDITORIAL COMMENT.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 1, 1 November 1910, Page 433

EDITORIAL COMMENT.

a ~o.i;—. ™ r&WAAUiui.iouUUua The movement in the Waikato for a recognition of local_ management in acclimatisation and' sporting matters has culminated in a petition to his Excellency the Governor for the registration of the Waikato Acclimatisation Society. \ The allegations- of fact in the petition will probably be denied or explained by, the Auckland Society. But that is not a question really germane to this matter. The governing principle is that local affairs are best managed by local people. They are on the spot, they know the local details best, they understand the local wants and requirements as no one else can understand them. This is shortly the theory, on which the whole case for local government, political and Municipal, rests, and ought to be extended to all concerns. In the matter of finance, it is the practice for all licenses to extend over flirt” ■mlnnl a T\aw»iv.i am , Tr /> J» 11 VXXKJ VVAAVXO X^WllXli_LlX/XX— W C OjJCCbIV. UX LliG pound shooting and gaming licenses. These may be taken out at any Post Office, and the Post Office transmits the money to the Acclimatisation Society in whose district it happens to be. The tourist, for example, who comes here for a season’s sport, arriving at the Bluff takes out a license there, and though the money goes to the local society, 1 the license covers the whole Dominion. In the same way

licenses taken out in Wellington, Auckland, or any other centre, apply to the Dominion, the money going to the local society registered as such. This system will give the proposed society of the Waikato the whole of the revenue raised from licenses taken out in the district. But the revenue contributed by tourists and sportsmen in other parts of the Dominion will go to the society of the district in which the money is paid. As the petitioners have a membership of 700, the registration they ask for will give them an assured revenue for the work they are anxious to do and do well. The offer to meet the interests of the Auckland Society in the matter of the fish hatchery seems fair. But that is a question for the parties to settle among themselves. We subjoin the petition. We, the undersigned shooters, license holders, residents and sportsmen of the Waikato, Thames, Raglan, Ohinemuri, Matamata, Piako, Waipa, Waitomo, Kawhia, Awakino and Ohura Counties, and northern part of West Taupo from Waihora Stream to opposite corner boundary, being members of the Waikato Acclimatisation Society, humbly pray your Excellency to grant us the registration of our. Society, known as the Waikato Acclimatisation Society, with headquarters at Hamilton. We have been unable to induce the Auckland Acclimatisation Society to aid us in eradicating hawks and other game destroyers, nor to help us in the acclimatisation and protection of game generally, and now feel that the time has arrived for us to look after our own district, and not be governed by the Auckland Society, which had at its last annual meeting in March only 25 members, including President, Vice-President, Council, Curator of Hatcheries, Rangers, etc., of whom practically all reside , in Auckland or suburbs, and cannot, therefore, he in touch with the wants of our district, owing to the great distance we are from Auckland. The members of our Society residing within each county named elect one member for a seat on the Council annually, thus giving direct _ representation throughout the Society’s district. For many years the Auckland Society has derived a large revenue from licenses in the Counties named, but this - revenue has been fast decreasing, owing to want of protection to the birds, etc. The Auckland Society has never liberated any birds or animals in the Counties named, which are principally -farming and agricultural districts, and we respectfully suggest should be governed by those who breed the game and allow it to feed on their farms. The Auckland Society has spent a few pounds in placing trout fry in a few of our rivers, but-the cost thereof has been returned to them a thousandfold in fish and game licenses collected from our district. if your Excellency considers fit to grant our petition we undertake to hand over to the Auckland Society all fishing licenses received for a term of three years from date of granting registration, and at the end of three years favourably consider the purchase of the Auckland Society’s Fish hatchery near Okornire, if f,h e v so desire, and thereafter _ arrange to give, them gratis a quantity of rainbow trout fry or yearling annually. We are all members of the Waikato Acclimatisa-

tion Society and each hold a certificate signed by the Hon. Secretary to that effect, having paid our annual subscription to same for the Society’s financial year ending March, 1911. Our Society embraces the finest country for game in New Zealand, and many kinds of English game birds _ would do well here, as the district is practically free from stoats and weasels, and with a regular income at our disposal we could keep down hawks and pay rangers to prevent illicit shooting, and import and acclimatise several kinds of game, birds and animals that would do well in New Zealand.