WANGANUI ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume XII, Issue 815, 9 January 1868, Page 2

WANGANUI ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

The following is the Report read at the General Meeting of the Society on Tuesday:— In laying before this Society a report of proceedings during the past two years, your Committee would refer to a meeting which took place in the Court House in February, 1»66, when the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society was reorganised and a course of action decided on. The funds of the Society were at that time limited to the annual subscriptions of 34 members, together with donations of five guineas each from Messrs. Cameron, Owen, Ross, Sarjeant, Smith, and Allison ; and the committee elected at that meeting were desirous of managing these slender funds in such a way as to produce some tangible results, instead of frittering them away in loose, irregular attempts at acclimatisation. They accordingly decided on devoting their energies mainly to the accomplishment of two important objects—the acclimatisation of the pheasant in this district, and the introduction into our lakes of the celebrated Murray cod. Your committee were of opinion that while no opportunity should be lost of introducing any useful or ornamental animals, birds, or plants, it would be satisfactory for rhe members to know that certain definite objects had been kept constantly in view, and that the efforts of the society in any particular direction had proved successful. Your committee accordingly ottered a premium of £75 for 50 pheasants, in the proportion of 35 hens to 15 cocks —advertised widely in the Auckland papers—and enlisted the co-oper-ation of several private individuals who had facilities for assisting them. Your committee also offered a premium of £25 for 250 young Murray cod, to be delivered alive and in sound condition either here or to the society’s agent in Wellington ; and, in connection therewith, sought the aid of Mr Ronald Gunn, of Launceston, and of Dr. Mueller, director of the Botanic Gardens, Melbourne, both of whom have evinced every desire to promote the objects of the society. Your committee moreover appointed a local agent in Wellington, and instructed him to purchase pheasants, &c., on behalf of the Society as opportunity ottered. Although the premium has never been claimed, a number of pheasants have been received from time to time from Auckland and Wellington, to the order of the Society, and have been either liberated at once or disposed of by private auction sale among the members, thus sscuring their better distribution throughout the district, and supplying the society with fresh funds for further operations of the kind. This plan answered so well, that your committee would recommend its continuance, except in cases where the immediate liberation of the birds on arrival might be deemed expedient or necessary. The imported pheasants appear to have thriven well everywhere. The first brood was observed on Mr Ross’s farm at Rangit;kei, and since that time coveys of young birds have been frequently seen in various parts of the district. Your committee are of opinion that the pheasant is now permanently established in the Wanganui and surrounding districts, and have every reason to hope, that with adequate protection, they will in a few seasons be as abundant here as they are in the northern part of the island. Your committee would not, therefore, recommend any further expenditure on this head, but they would advise that some steps be immediately taken to secure the absolute protection of the bird, at all seasons, by legal enactment for, say, three years—there being nothing in the present state of the law, to prevent their indiscriminate destruction in the shooting season . During the last session of the Provincial Council, one of the members for Wellington city (Robert Pharazyn, Esq.) interested himself in this matter, and succeeded in carrying a bill to effect this object. But this Act was disallowed among others as being ultra vires and our birds are still unprotected in the shooting season. With regard to Murray cod, your committee regret to report that their efforts have hitherto proved unavailing. Notwithstanding the active assistance of several influential persons in Tasmania and Yictoria,

no supply of this valuable fish has yet been received. Your committee have recently, however, received a letter from Mr Ronald Gunn, F.R.S., which leads them to hope that their efforts in this direction will yet prove successful, provided the necessary funds are forthcoming. On the subject of fish, it is satisfactory to be able to report that a supply of young carp (numbering upwards of two hundred) recently arrived in Wanganui, to the order of the Society, ia a healthy condition, and have been extensively distributed in ' suitable localities thi’oughout the'district. Your Committee desire to record their appreciation of the active assistance rendered by Hugh Ross, Esq., of Rangitikei, who undertook to provide a repository for the surplus stock in one of the lakes on his estate, whence young fish may be obtained from time to time for further dissemination.

Regarding the introduction into this country of insectivorous birds a matter of paramount importance, your committee, in October 1866, issued a circular offering a premium of one hundred pounds for a hundred pair of English house sparrows, to be delivered here or to the society’s agent in Wellington. This notice has been extensively circulated and has been inserted in a leading zoological magazine in England, but no communication of any kind in reply has been received by the Secretary. An experiment made on a far more limited scale has proved very successful, two pairs of sparrows which were obtained through the local agent in Wellington, and liberated in this town, having taken up their abode under the eaves of an hotel in one of the leading thoroughfares, and already reared a brood of young. The following is a list of animals and birds obtained by your Committee, partly by gift, but chiefly by purchase, during the last two years, namely :

8 kangaroos 2 wallabies 1 Tasmanian kangaroo 4 burrowing rabbits 4 black swans 30 Chinese pheasants 6 English pheasants 2 partridges 8 Californian quail 14 Australian quail 4 Madagascar quail 3 Tasmanian magpies 27 Wonga-wonga pigeons 2 Cockatoo pigeons 2 bronze-winged pigeons 6 ring doves 2 English jays 8 greenfinches 4 sparrows Some of the above have died on the passage, or immediately on arrival. The rest have been liberated in various parts of the district with the exception of a pair of cockatoo pigeons and five ring doves, which are still in the custody of the Secretary. The principal difficulty with which your committee has to contend, has been the want of the necessary funds for carrying on its operations. On the 28tli April 1866 his Honor the Superintendent, in reply to an application from the Secretary, wrote a 3 follows :—“ In reply to your letter of the 17th ult. I shall have much pleasure in placing £IOO of the vote of £250 at the disposal of the Wanganui Acclimatisation Society, less £l4 the price of seven pheasants which have been ordered for your society from Auckland. The remainder of the vote has been placed in the hands of the agent of this province in London.” By direction of your Committee the Secretary wrote to his Honor on the 7th August 1866, requesting that the grant of one hundred pounds (less the deductions referred to) might be remitted to the Society’s Treasurer, and the application was afterwards repeated ; but no portion of the grant has yet been received by the Society. Your Committee are of opinion that although the vote of last year has lapsed, they have, in terms of his Honor's letter already cited, an absolute claim to a grant of a like amount out of this year’s vote for the purpose of acclimatisstion ; and they would re commend the Society to urge their claim in the strongest possible manner. Tlie; e is one other subject to which the Committee would direct the attention of the Society. In the last session of the General Assembly a bill was introduced, having for its object the consnli lation of the existing laws relating to introduced animals, and, after undergoing some important modifications in Committee, passed into law. The Act provides for the recognition of Acclimatisation Societies, and for placing their operations under proper legal protection. It, moreover, provides for the protection of the indigenous insectivorous birds in districts where the inhabitants are desirous of such protection. Your Committee would, therefore, recommend the formation and registration of this society, in conformity with the Act, and would suggest that steps be immediately taken to secure the protection of the Act to the native insectivorous birds in this district.

Your Committee take this opportunity of acknowledging a gift of three pairs of Californian quail from his Excellency Sir George Grey, the President of the Society.