# The Story of Christchurch, New Zealand/Chapter 12

Chapter XII.
The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, and the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society.
The two institutions whose titles appear at the head of this chapter were founded in successive years, and with similar objects. Hack in its own department strove to secure the careful selection of such animals and plants as might be introduced to supplement the indigenous fauna and flora of the country.
The Association stood for the commercial side of acclimatisation, the encouragement of the importation of pedigree stock, of prize mangolds, selected grasses, and other fodder plants. The Society undertook the more poetic selection of game and song birds, fish and wild animals, also of useful and ornamental trees, shrubs and flowers.
The Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association was founded on January 23, 1863, and was the successor of two earlier institutions, the first being the Christchurch Agricultural, Horticultural and Botanical Society founded July 10, 1853, under the chairmanship of Captain Simeon. This Society held an exhibition of horses, cattle, sheep and pigs, in Market Square on October 6, 1853, the first show of the kind in Christchurch. The second institution, the Canterbury Pastoral Association, held its first show of sheep at Mr. Benjamin Moorhouse’s station at Shepherd’s Bush, on the Rangitata, on September 14, 1859. It seems to have been intended by that Association to have held migratory shows at different localities annually, as is done by the Royal Agricultural Society of Scotland.
​The show at Shepherd's Bush was a great success. It was attended by a number of sheep-breeders, who marked their appreciation of Mr. Moorhouse’s hospitality by presenting his infant son (now Dr. B. Moorhouse) with 100 ewes. The Canterbury Pastoral Association held a second show on August 15, 1860, at Turton’s accommodation house in the Ashburton district. Mr. B. Dowling and Mr. E. Fereday were practically the founders of the Association, doing most of the organising work. Incidentally, it may be added that Mr. Dowling won eleven out of the eighteen prizes offered at the Ashburton Show.
On October 22, 1862, a Pastoral and Agricultural Show was held in Christchurch, in a paddock north of Latimer Square, with entrance from Madras Street. Mr. Robert Wilkin was President of this show, which led to the formation of the Canterbury Agricultural and Pastoral Association, of which he became the first President.
The Association purchased fourteen acres of land in Colombo Street south, at £120 per acre (the present Sydenham Park), and held its first show there on October 22, 1863. When the growing importance of the annual show necessitated more accommodation, the Association moved, in March, 1857, to its present grounds at Addington. The Association has always secured the services of a strong and influential committee, many of its members being runholders and farmers. It has established Herd and Stud Books for cattle and draught horses, and by a liberal prize list, has encouraged the breeders of pedigree stock. The annual show, held in November, is one of the most important events of the kind in Australasia. The Association is in a strange financial position, and holds its valuable property at Addington free from debt.
The Canterbury Acclimatisation Society was constituted at a public meeting, held at the Town Hall, Christchurch, on April 19, 1864. Mr. F. A. Weld, ​afterwards Sir Frederick Weld, and Mr. Mark Pringle Stoddart were the prime movers in its formation. Mr. Travers had also rendered valuable assistance by lecturing on acclimatisation. The Superintendent of the Province was, ex officio, Patron of the Society, and Mr. Weld was elected as its first President.
Prior to the formation of the Society, private enterprise had been at work. It is not on record who first introduced the water-cress, but it is on record that so early as June 19, 1857, the Provincial Council passed a vote of £1,500 to be expended by the Superintendent in clearing the Avon and Heathcote Rivers of this pest. Undeterred by this experience, some enthusiastic fishermen subsequently introduced an even worse pest—the American water-weed—which it was expected would harbour food for trout. Mr. FitzGerald was one of those who had taken a keen interest in acclimatisation. He suggested the introduction of salmon into our rivers. Writing from London, while he was Emigration Agent, to Superintendent Moorhouse (March 18, 1859), he proposed that instead of sending the fish out in tanks, spawn should be sent out frozen. He pointed out that salmon cannot live within forty degrees of the Equator, and require a water temperature of not over sixty degrees. From these premises, he inferred that Canterbury and Otago, with their snow-fed rivers, might stand out alone in the Australasian Colonies as suitable for salmon, and that a great industry might be developed. Mr. FitzGerald’s anticipation has not, so far, been fulfilled. The Quinnat salmon has been more or less successfully acclimatised, but with the true Atlantic salmon all experiments have ended with the hatching of its ova and the turning out of the young fish to be no more seen.
Before the formation of the Society various game and other birds were introduced. A pair of English pheasants, turned out on Banks Peninsula in 1850, throve ​amazingly, and Mr. Brittan made an early, though unsuccessful attempt to introduce the partridge.
Many of the English song birds were imparted in the early days of the settlement. Mr. George Rhodes turned out the first pair of blackbirds at Purau, and the arrival of a family of little ones was duly recorded in the papers. A later importation, if is rumoured, was less fortunate in its results—a consignment of blackbirds arrived, but the members of the Society, alas, were no ornithologists, and the lighter plumage of the hens caused them to be mistaken for thrushes; so the cock birds were turned out in one locality, and the supposed thrushes in another, so that they should not interfere with each others’ nesting arrangements.
Soon after its incorporation, the Society decided (December 29, 1864) to advertise its needs in the Emigration Office in London. The prices offered for delivery in Canterbury were “£10 10s. per pair for Black Game, or Grouse; £5 for Partridges; £2 for Blackbirds, Thrushes, and Larks; down to 15/- per pair for Sparrows; also £10 per pair for Hares.” The inclusion of the sparrow in the list of “desirable emigrants” needs explanation. The country was infested then by vast swarms of caterpillars; they appeared in their myriads about harvest time, and marched upon the ripening crops of wheat. In a few hours they would eat through every stalk, just below the ear, thus stripping the crop and leaving the ground littered with the half-ripened grain. Where the nature of the soil permitted, some farmers dug water trenches round their crops to protect them, but in most eases this was impracticable. It was the abundance of insect life—caterpillars, grasshoppers, grubs and beetles which enabled the first pheasants to thrive so marvellously.
When the sparrows had “adjusted the balance of nature” between the caterpillar and the grain growers, they, in their turn, took tall from the wheat fields, and ​in February, 1868, their importation was discontinued. Among other early gifts to the Society were silver-grey rabbits, from Sir George Grey, Californian quail and black swan, the latter given by Mr. Wilkin. Sir George’s silver-greys were not the only rabbits introduced, and for some years they continued to be turned out in various localities, and were protected by legislation. The Statute Book contains a long series of Rabbit Nuisances Acts, beginning with one passed in 1876, but the damage done by these animals continued to increase till the early eighties, and led to the ruin of many hitherto prosperous settlers. Then, in spite of protests from men with practical experience, came the introduction of stoats and weasels, which were expected to exterminate the rabbit. The introduction of such vermin is now generally regretted. The rabbit nuisance has been brought under control by the use of wire netting, poison and by trapping, but the damage done by stoats and weasels is increasing.
The functions of an Acclimatisation Society have, in these later times, come to be understood to relate to the introducing and rearing of fish, the importation and protection of game and other birds or animals, but the Society at its beginning had a wider scope, and included the vegetable kingdom, from forest trees to flowers and grasses within its field of operation.
The Society started under very favourable auspices; about £600 were privately subscribed, and was supplemented by a Government grant of £1,000 to be used in planting and preparing about four acres of the Domain, then waste land, as acclimatisation gardens. Here the Society established its fish hatcheries. The first trout ova, received from Tasmania in 1867, hatched out successfully, and the young trout were turned out into the rivers of Canterbury in 1869. They grew rapidly, and when fishing was allowed in 1874, the first fish caught sealed 9¼lbs. Since then trout weighing as much as 28lbs. to 30lbs. have occasionally been caught.
​An attempt was made by the Society in 1868 to introduce the silk industry. The attempt was a failure, as it was found that the worms could not stand the fierce nor’-west winds which tore across the plains. So far as the writer knows the experiment has not been repeated. Since then the rigors of these winds have been considerably abated by the cultivation of the plains, and by the extensive area of plantation. The Canterbury climate is very suitable for the growth of the mulberry, and it is possible the Province may yet vie with the south of France as a silk producing country.
In later years the Society established several herds of red deer in the mountainous districts of Canterbury, notably the very fine herd in the Rakaia Gorge, and was instrumental in turning out chamois amongst the Mount Cook ranges. The chamois were presented by the Emperor of Austria.
The bumble bee was introduced about 1885, as it was found that the red clover required the assistance of this insect to enable it to fertilise its seed. The bee spread over the country with extraordinary rapidity, and the newspaper columns at the time were full of letters recording the arrival of bumble bees at distant parts of Canterbury. The immediate purpose of its acclimatisation was speedily fulfilled, and growing of red clever and cowgrass for seed became a profitable branch of agriculture, but incidentally the bees promoted cross fertilisation of all sorts of flowers and vegetables. An accidental acclimatisation was that of the Californian Thistle, supposed to have been imported with their fodder by a troop of Mexican cow-boys. Large sums of money have been spent in the attempt to eradicate this pest, but lately some pastoralists have asserted that it is a positive advantage in sheep country—affording good feed, particularly in a drought.
The Canterbury Acclimatisation Society still occupies the original site set aside for it by the Provincial Council ​more than fifty years ago. It still continues to turn out annually large quantities of young trout into the rivers and lakes of Canterbury, which are now well stocked with fish. Unfortunately a similar success has not attended the Society's effort to protect native game birds and to introduce others.
It must be confessed that a retrospect of the story of feathered game in Canterbury makes sad reading. The native quail, once thick on the plains, are extinct; the kaka and native pigeon, which swarmed on Banks Peninsula, have disappeared along with the bush; duck and teal are still to be found on Lake Ellesmere, but in sadly reduced numbers, and are no longer procurable as food for the people; the pukaki, which formerly blackened the swamp, is becoming a rare bird. Most of this destruction was possibly inevitable; grass fires and settlement exterminated the native quail, and the bush had to be fallen and the swamps drained.
But what has been done to replace the native game birds? We have tried to introduce the pheasant, the partridge, the Californian quail, the Australian black swan, and lately, the Canadian goose. But, unfortunately, the introduction of the sparrow has obliged farmers to make use of poisoned grain, and stoats and weasels have been introduced to kill the rabbits. The result is that Canterbury, to-day, is almost depleted of game. Whether this difficulty can be made good in the future is a question which need not be discussed here, but it may be pointed out that in Leadenhall markets pheasants are often cheaper than fowls, and would, in Canterbury, make a pleasant occasional change even from our celebrated mutton.
The moral of the story of acclimatisation points to the very great care which should be taken in selecting animal, bird or vegetable life for introduction into a new country.