•522 State Secretaries' Reports; \i^'"\\\\ 



League of Bird Lovers, to which over 5,000 members (adult and 

 juvenile) have been added during the last few months. The 

 Central Queensland Native Birds' Protection Association is flourish- 

 ing ; a society on similar lines has been formed at Mackay ; 

 and another is in course of formation at Mount Morgan. At 

 the latter town a fillip has been given the movement by the Mount 

 Morgan Gold Mining Company having had all the large bird- 

 haunted dams on its property proclaimed sanctuaries for native 

 birds. 



It is regrettable to report that the Game Bill, which repeals 

 the obsolete bird protection laws of Queensland, and provides 

 modern legislation for the preservation of all native fauna, has 

 not yet passed into law. Introduced into Parliament after an 

 ornithological deputation had waited on the Minister of Agricul- 

 ture in August of 1918, it missed the session of 1919 through 

 pressure of business. The same cause and effect operated in connec- 

 tion with the session of January-February, 1920 ; but a deputation 

 to the Premier (Mr. E. G. Theodore), on 13th February, succeeded 

 in securing a promise that the measure would lie again lirought 

 forward later in the present year. 



Representations were also made by a deputation which waited 

 on the Minister for Agriculture (Mr. W. N. Gillies) a week later, 

 the cause of complaint being the alleged depredations of the 

 Australian Bee-eater {Merops ornatiis) among tlie l)ees. A feature 

 of the proceedings (which the State Secretary attended by invita- 

 tion) was a declaration by the Minister that, whea assessing the 

 value of native birds, he proposed to take into consideration 

 beauty as well as usefulness. It is surely a most healthy sign 

 when a practical politician speaks in this way to agriculturists 

 who, in their own words, "leave sentiment out of the question." 



At the annual meeting of the Central Queensland Native Birds' 

 Protection Association (affiliated with the R.A.O.U.), held on 27th 

 January, Mr. R. S. Archer was elected patron, Mr. P. E. O'Reilly 

 president, and Mr. P. V. Maloney hon. secretary. Eiglitecn ntnv 

 members were enrolled. An honorarium of £G 6s. was voted to 

 Mr. Maloney for his fine services. It was reported that the com- 

 mittee was moving in the direction of restricting the use of the 

 deadly pea rifle to persons over the age of 16 years. Following 

 a warning against illegal shooting, the Association secured a con- 

 viction which cost the offender £6 15s. 6d. The chairman (Mr. A. 

 Boldeman), in moving the adoption of the report, paid a tribute 

 to the work of tlie committee, and especially the hon. secretary. 

 A. H. Chisholm, Slate Secretary. 



South Australi.\. 



, I HAVE the honour to report that since last writing (some three 



months ago) your representative in this State has ryvv kv\)t a 



watchful eye for the protection and wrllarc of oui" nati\c l)irds. 



