303
FAUNA IN HONGKONG.
This is the time of year when thoughts have turned for some weeks to the feathered game of the Colony, and one is reminded that there is no organised gun club, or any means for sportsmen to keep in practice, as they would with a clay-pigeon club for example. About a year ago, I met a man who had taken the trouble to purchase a large supply of clay "pigeons" and the necessary trap, had carried the lot out to a local hillside, and there expended about a hundred cartridges in hitting, or trying to hit, the soaring discs. But this was a lone effort.
Yet on looking up the records, one finds that organised gunning was taken more seriously in the old days, probably because there was more game and fewer devotees. I cull the following information for example from an old issue of the Hongkong Telegraph:
The first meeting of members of the Hongkong Gun Club was held on May 1, 1884. There was a large gathering at the Hongkong Club, including many military officers.
A report of the proceedings shows that Government was willing to grant a lease of land at the Eastern end of the Island where game could be protected. The question of the employment of gamekeepers and the cost of food for the game was gone into.
Major General Cameron was elected President of the organisation. There was also discussed the probability of importing deer from Hainan at $3 per head, partridges from Foochow at $2.50 per dozen, and rabbits from Australia.
The details of the subsequent fate of this club are not available.
Some years earlier there had been an effort to make bunny take kindly to Stonecutters Island, possibly for fear that he would increase and multiply, as in Australia, and had best be confined to a small place to begin with. We have the following appearing in the Hongkong Telegraph of January 19, 1883:
"A few years ago, Stonecutter's Island was forbidden ground. A regulation passed in the old days when the gaol was occupied by convicts still existed and as there was apparently nothing of the slightest interest to be seen on the island, very few residents ever thought it worth while to disturb what remained of the rabbits let loose by Mr. Ryrie and one or two other gentlemen with sporting proclivities.
"By and by, however, Stonecutter's Island became a popular bathing resort. By permission of the Government about two years ago, a number of ponies were turned out to find a living the best way they could and, in time, the privacy of the old place became a thing of the past. But suddenly, a great change came, the result of which was to make Stonecutter's Island the same isolated spot it was years ago. An interdict against ponies was passed and put in force. Forts were constructed on the island, and it has become a sort of headquarters for military purposes in addition to remaining a store under Government control for gunpowder and other dangerous goods of that character.
"We learn that an order has been issued strictly forbidding unauthorised persons from landing on the Island."
303
FAUNA IN HONGKONG.
This is the time of year when thoughts have turned for some weeks to the feathered game of the Colony, and one is reminded that there is no organised gun club, or any means for sportsmen to keep in practice, as they would with a clay-pigeon club for example. About a year ago, I met a man who had taken the trou- ble to purchase a large supply of clay " pigeons" and the nec- essary trap, had carried the lot out to a local hillside, and there expended about a hundred cartidges in hitting, or trying to hit, the soaring discs. But this was a lone effort.
Yet on looking up the records, one finds that organised gunning was taken more seriously in the old days, probably because there was more game and fewer devotees. I cull the following information for example from an old issue of the Hongkong Telegraph :
The first meeting of members of the Hongkong Gun Club was £x held on May 1, 1884. There was a large gathering at the Hongkong Club, including many military officers.
A report of the proceedings shows that Government was wil- ling to grant a lease of land at the Eastern end of the Island where game could be protected. The question of the employment of gamekeepers and the cost of food for the game was gone into.
Major General Cameron was elected President of the organi sation. There was also discussed the probability of importing deer from Hainan at $3 per head, partridges from Foochow at $2.50 per dozen, and rabbits from Australia.
The details of the subsequent fate of this club are not available.
Some
However, that was not by any means the first effort to stock the Colony with game, or to introduce rabbits here. years earlier there had been an effort to make bunny take kindly to Stonecutters Island, possibly for fear that he would increase and multiply, as in Australia, and had best be fonfined to a small place to begin with. We have the following appearing in the Hongkong Telegraph of January 19, 1883:
"A few years ago, Stonecutter's Island was forbidden ground. A regulation passed in the old days when the gaol was occuped by convicts still existed and as there was apparently nothing of the slightest interest to be seen on the island, very few residents ever thought it worth while to distrub what remained of the rabbits let loose by Mr. Ryrie and one or two other gentlemen with sporting proclivities.
"By and by, however, Stonecutter's Island became a popu- lar bathing resort. By permission of the Government about two years ago, a number of ponies were turned out to find a living the best way they could and, in time, the privacy of the old place became a thing of the past. But suddently, a great change came, the result of which was to make Stonecutter's Island the same isolated spot it was years ago. An interdict against ponies was passed and put in force. Forts were constructed on the island, and it has become a sort of headquarters for mili- tary purposes in addition to remaining a store under Government control for gunpowder and other dangerous goods of that cha-
racter.
"We learn that an order has been issued strictly forbidding unauthorised persons from landing on the Island. "
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