NEW ZEALAND DEER-STALKING 135 



excuse for attacking Mr. Hardcastle and other leaders 

 of the forward movement. 



Buckley estimated that he got one malform in 

 four, and Hodgkinson one in three, so that my early 

 remarks on the subject have been fully vindicated. 

 Altogether nearly a hundred malforms were exter- 

 minated in about six weeks. " Some of the heads 

 brought in are shocking things." I quote from a 

 friend's letter. Buckley went out again after the 

 stalking season was over, but the snow was so bad 

 he had to return without accomplishing anything. 



A meeting is now to be held annually at Dunedin 

 during the winter show week, of practical and ex- 

 perienced stalkers, so it really seems that matters 

 are improving. 



Whatever may be the cause of the numbers of mal- 

 forms to be found in Otago, there can be no room for 

 doubt as to the remedy, and I am glad to find that 

 the opinion which I expressed in the New Zealand 

 papers is backed by so well-known an authority as 

 Mr. Allan Gordon Cameron. I read a recent article 

 by him in the Weekly Press with very great interest. 



The New Zealand authorities have it in their own 

 hands to decide whether they will make the boast 

 which I have quoted from one of the colonial papers 

 true, or whether they will let the condition of the 

 herd go from bad to worse. Time will show what 

 their choice has been. 



