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THE TASMANIAN NATURALISTThe Conservation of Tasmania's NativeFauna.

By W. L. Crowther, D.S.O., M.B.CHAIRMAN'S ADDRESS, 1925-26.

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The meeting to-night concludes the work of the year 1925-26, and I must take this opportunity of thanking you for thehonour of acting as your ,chairman for the last two years. I t hasbeen a very great pleasure to me, and my one regret is that Ihave not had more time to give to the junior members and thcencouragement of field excursions, and I trust that my successor may be of more help to you in this respect.The Club has had a good year without any outstandinO"events, and the usual programme of lectures has been carriedthrough, also a very successful camp-out at Port Arthur. Theevent of most importance to us has been the opening up oncemore of the fur season, and its effect on the already very depleted native fauna.I approach this matter not in any' carping spirit, as underTasmanian conditions the Minister has a very difficult situationto handle, and much influence can always be brought to effectthe opening of what was to be a closed season. I instance thepleas of unemployment, damage to crops, etc. After all, thesna.ring and taking of our game is a specialised work, and oncfor which the average man "out of a job" has neither aptitudenor inclination. To prevent damage to crops there is nothing topTfwent a man destroying the animals responsible, provided heobtains authority from the Police Department.I feel that the H o n ~ u r a b l e the Attorney-General (Honour

able A. G. Ogilvie) is, and has been, sympathetic to those whowish to control the Furred Fauna of Tasmania, and he hasbehind him all the influence of our Club in his efforts to amendthe Animals and Birds Protection Act, and establish a fullyqU:llified Board to administer the industry.Our marsupial life is unique in its form. Australia is, asyou know, the continent in which'the marsupials are most fullyrepresented, and the Commonwealth Government has of recentyears taken much interest in the question of the export of livingand dead animals. The Commonwealth Government is alsogiving very real support to Dr. Colin MacKenzie in his work onductless glands, and everywhere there is a widespread feelingthat our beautiful and unioue animals shall be conserved forour descendants.From the standpoint 01 an industry, the opossums andkangaroos are difficult animals to control. They are able torange freely and reproduce themselves slowly. Where therhylacine anti Tasmanian Devil each have several cubs, the

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4 THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.kahgaroo and opossum have only one or, at most, two joeys int.he breeding season. The general rule is that both these specieshI their wild slate breed only once in the twelve months. Their

~ ' o u n g , as you know, are very immature when born, and verydependent on their mothers for several months.By an unhappy chance the season when the fur is at iisfinest (June and Julv ) corresponds to the time when almostevery a d l ~ 1 t female has young in the pouch, and the destructionof the dQe entails the destruction of both. There should be somemethod Qf trapping which would hold the animal alive until itcould be examined. Were this done all immature animals ofhoth sexes could be released. All males and a certain proportion of does (such proportion to be estimated for each species)would then be slain and skinned. Generally, too, at least thehind quarters of the kangaroo and wallaby might be made available for food in the city. Controlled in this way the industrymight not need even the alternate closed season that the CornmissioJ;1er of Police recommends. The present system is suchthat most animals that are trapped are dead when the trapperexamines the snare.The Ring.tailed Opossum is being wiped out. In the olddays of the 'possum dog and moonlight shooting it had somechance; now with the deadly spot light it is a systematicmassacre. The use of this light should be absolutely f o r b i d d e ~ l ,and the penalty for use a heavy one. In New Zealand, where theAustralian fauna has been introduced with great success, andwhere a very valuable fur industry has been built up, such lightsare absolutely forbidden.The big bulky nest of the Ringtail is so easily found thatthe female has no protection as the Bt:ush Opossum has in herhole in a hollow tree, and if the unfortunate doe gets away herhome is marked down, and she becomes a victim a little later.In 1923-4-5 1,457,125 Ringtail skins have passt>d through theDepartment, and I defy contradiction when I anticipate over250,000 will ~ o through this year.I desire to draw a t t e n t i o ~ to the following extract from thereport of the Commissioner of Police, dated 27th August, 1925,giving the number of skins taken in 1923-4-5. . The figures speakfor themselves:-

"Before the season was opened I obtained reports fromthe police throughout the State as to the quautity of game.The reports received were almost unanimously to the>effectthat game was scarce, and the season should be closed. Istrongly recommended this to the Hon. the AttorneyGeneral. The surprised result of the open season as to thenumber of animals killed and the revenue received suggestst h ~ t these reports were not well founded; hut this is not so.It is truf that this year the open season (three months

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THE TASMANIAN NATURALtST. 5duration) resulted in a capture of animals fairly well inexcess of the total during previous year (two months operation), but the number of pelts taken in 1925 (except ringtail opo'!sum) were considerably under the ' take' for 1923.Very good weather prevailed during the greater part of theopen period this year. enabling hunters to 'well comb' allgame districts into the back country not 'previously wcllaecessibJe. Tn addition, the splendid market value of skinsproved an incentive to hunters on both Crown lands andprivate property to put forth their very best effurts whiletime permitted it, and while general conditions were sofavourable for the work. The toll taken this year, notwithstanding the shortage that existed, renders the matter onefor serious consideration. The fur trade of the State is avery real and valuable asset, which, in my opinion, shouldbe firmly preserved. I s u g g e ~ t alternate open and closeseasons.

Appendix l .'" ..: .;:.r .. '"::I > Ql !I ) : tU ,.; .e: g ~ = . ~ :s QlS :::1- ! ~ S .I:! ~ 9 r....,; .,;'" ., .5 =:a ~ ~ ~ ' O :: ,.J:i:::\ Ql .., ~ ~, Q al '" >~ ~ - S ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ b D l ~ ~ t ; ' ; ' ~ e a ~ ~ ..... ='&:1 -;'s~ = O co ~ >...,&.s . ~ = ~ Q l " " .. " ' ~ = Q Cd 'a>o-:S.:! C o t . ~ C'I) Q ~ : ! ! l e ; S Q .. ,O ~ : H ' ' ' ' > O ~ ~ ' " E - o ~ : ! ! l E-o ... ~ ~

23-4-5 71,576 140,580 1,457,125 281,663 409,003 8,593 33,954lQ23 34,094 71,874 587,179 146,236 201,365 104,748 4,119 15,8781924 16,154 29,824 273,421 59.448 86;393 465,240 1,974 6,9231925 21,326 38,886 596,526 75,979 121,245 853,942 2,500 11,148This year's figures will show the inevitable effect of yearafter year of slaughter without respite.Although mild winter weather has enabled the trapper topenetrate further afield, and the effects of last year's bush fires

have brought in the game to where tender shoots and new grassare to be had, and make their capture certain. Ye:t one can anticipate with certainty an immensely lessened take of skins.The animals must have rest and a chance to breed and reproduce themselves or one of our most valuable industries will

cease to exist. We have still the remains of our herds of furbearing seals to remind us of the way the Fur Seal Industry wasdestroyed, and also to assure us that, like the Bison of America,thf,ir herds may vet be built up again by wise administration.Recently some attention has been directed to the fur industry.I would urge every member of our Club to impress his or herrelations, and in the case of junior members their school mates,on this matter. Each Tasmanian a8 he or she grows up shouldbe able to have the same pleasure in our native fauna as weadults have had, and it is we ourselves who must unite now to

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6 THE TASMANIAN NATURALIST.ensure this by giving full support to the proposed amendmentof the Act.I hope by the next annual meeting that the matter will beplaced in the hands of a Board formed as the Minister proposes.I desire to wish the incoming chairman and all members a veryhappy and successful year.

Some Tasmanian Naturalists.(6)

JOSEPH MILLIGAN.By John Reynolds.Whilst Gunn was' performing his great botanical labors inalmost every part of Tasmania, a young Scotch doctor was alsorendering great services to Anthropology and Science generally.Arriving in Tasmania in 1829, at the age of 22, Joseph Milligantook the position of surgeon to the Van Diemen's Land Company's establishment at Surrey Hills. That Company had by

Royal Charter been granted some large tracts of virgin land illthe North-Western portion of the island. When Milligan commenced his duties in 1830., the Company had only been in exist-ence a little more than four years. Most of the wide lands theyheld south of Emu Bay were little more than half explored, andwere full of interest to a naturalist. In 1830 the aboriginal tribeswere still at large in fairly considerable numbers. The rounding up a year or 80 previously had failed, and whilst GovernorArthur still aimed at segregation, the means were not immediately at his disposal.Evidently Dr. Milligan came into close contact with theNorth-Western tribes, for he must have commenced studying thehabits of the race very soon after his arrival. Since the shortvisits of tbe Frenchmen, Peron and Labillardiere, little sympathetic interest had been shown these unfortunate people. TheFrenchmen, we have seen, were greatly interested in them, buttheir sojourn was too limited to make anything more than a fewgeneral observations of their habits. What they have left us intheir accounts was, and still is, both interesting and valuable.But they were unable to undertake those physical descriptionswhich are the basis of anthropological science. Still less werethey able to describe their customs, their tribal organisations,and their reli/!ious instincts. Language, of course, was the greatbar. The early settlers came into contact with the aboriginals,but even the most kindly disposed do not appear to haveseriously attempted to learn their language. We have an instance of this in the way the second Lieutenant-Governor,Colonel Thomas Davey, was forced to resort to pictures to illus-