546 LEGISLATION 



No one seems to have discovered the interesting zoological error of 

 classing scorpions as reptiles till 1910, when in an Amending Act the 

 section was made to read "snake or other noxious reptile, scorpion 

 or insect." As a matter of fact an occasional snake has been found in 

 foreign (chiefly Australian) cargoes, but has always been destroyed; 

 but scorpions and large centipedes are frequently introduced along 

 with fruit and hardwood timber from the South Sea Islands and 

 Australia, and none of those responsible can possibly prevent these 

 accidental importations. 



Amendment Acts were passed in 1900 and 1903, and in the latter 

 a clause was introduced (over-riding clauses in the Rabbit Act) giving 

 the Governor in Council power to " declare that weasels, stoats, etc., 

 declared to be a natural enemy of the Rabbit, and which have since 

 proved to be the enemies of game and poultry may be killed " in any 

 specified district. 



In 1907 all the Acts passed between 1880 and 1903 were repealed 

 and the "Animals Protection Act 1907" was passed, consolidating 

 all previous legislation. The following is Section 17: "Every person 

 who unlawfully takes or destroys, or wilfully destroys the eggs of 

 any birds mentioned in the First, Second or Fifth Schedules hereto, 

 is liable to a fine not exceeding Ten Pounds." 



The First Schedule contains the following names : antelope, black 

 game, deer, grouse, hares, imported wild duck of any species, moose, 

 partridge, pheasant, plover, ptarmigan, quail, snipe, swans. 



The Second Schedule contains the names of several native species, 

 and the following introduced birds: black stilt plover (?), black swan, 

 curlew and wild goose. 



The Fifth Schedule deals with about thirty species of indigenous 

 birds, and also includes the Tuatara lizard and opossums. 



An Amending Act in 1914 gives the Governor in Council power 

 to make sanctuaries for imported and native game, and the protection 

 thus afforded has been freely availed of. 



All the preceding legislation from 1861 onwards, dealing with the 

 protection of certain animals, was really aimed at conserving imported 

 animals for the purposes of sport. It was supplemented in 1862 by 

 a "Birds Protection Act," which limited the period during which 

 game could be shot. One of its provisions, one which certainly could 

 not be passed to-day, was in Section 6, in which shooting on Sundays 

 was prohibited. 



The introduction of small birds into New Zealand was partly due 

 to sentimental considerations, and partly to the necessity of checking 

 the ravages of " army worms " and other caterpillars which threatened 

 to arrest the cultivation of certain crops. However, within ten or 



