2 INTRODUCTION 



plants. Both the face of the country and its inhabitants have been 

 largely changed, but hitherto no connected account has been available 

 of the agencies which have brought about these profound changes. 

 It is important then that such an account should be prepared, because 

 every year as it passes makes it increasingly difficult to gather the 

 materials. Then the educational value of the knowledge is considerable. 

 The first generations of settlers have already passed away, leaving 

 only isolated records behind them. The generation now passing 

 witnessed the great outburst of acclimatisation zeal in the sixties, 

 but it also failed to keep good records. The acclimatisation societies 

 themselves were very careless in the matter. The Auckland Society 

 has a lapse apparently of some 20 years in its history; the record 

 is somewhere, but it is not available. Nelson has entirely lost its 

 early records ; it was one of the earliest societies to enter on the work 

 of introducing new forms of animal life, yet no one seems to have 

 thought it worth while to preserve a complete report of its doings. 

 If such exists it has not been forthcoming. Otago has kept a complete 

 record, but neither the society itself, nor any of its members can 

 show a full set, and some annual reports are missing. And so on 

 with many other societies. The information, therefore, which has 

 been accumulated in this work has been gathered piecemeal. But by 

 so putting it together, it will be possible to make a fresh start in 

 regard to the present position, and any further additions to the fauna 

 or flora can be noted and added to the lists now prepared. 



An important consideration is the practical value of such a state- 

 ment as is presented in this work, in shaping the future policy of 

 acclimatisation. It has hitherto been carried on in the most haphazard 

 and irresponsible manner, districts, societies and individuals acting 

 quite independently of, and often in direct opposition to, one another. 

 One district protects hawks because they destroy rabbits and small 

 birds ; another destroys them because they attack game. One district 

 imported stoats and weasels in order to cope with the rabbit pest; 

 another destroyed them wherever found because they threatened the 

 total destruction of the native bird life. There has been no settled 

 policy. This has largely been due to the total failure of the com- 

 munity to grasp the scientific aspect of the question, or even to realise 

 that it has a scientific side. This consistently British attitude towards 

 things scientific (which it is to be hoped the war will largely modify, 

 and in part dispel) has led to neglect of ordinary precautions in 

 nearly all past acclimatisation experiments. Even as late as 1916 

 several of the societies were contemplating the contribution of a 

 jointly raised sum for the purpose of introducing Australian swallows 

 into the country, presumably to cope with some aspect of the insect 



