MAY 15.] THE NEW ZEALAND GAZETTE. 1175

General Regulations under Part III of the Animals Protection
and Game Act, 1921–22, respecting Opossums.

JELLICOE, Governor-General.

ORDER IN COUNCIL.

At the Government Buildings at Wellington, this 13th day
of May, 1924.

Present:

THE HONOURABLE SIR FRANCIS BELL PRESIDING IN COUNCIL.

IN pursuance and exercise of the powers and authorities
conferred upon him by the Animals Protection and
Game Act, 1921–22 (hereinafter referred to as “the said
Act”), and of all other powers and authorities enabling him
in this behalf, His Excellency the Governor-General of the
Dominion of New Zealand, acting by and with the advice
and consent of the Executive Council of the said Dominion,
doth hereby revoke all previous regulations respecting
opossums made under Part III of the said Act, and doth
hereby make the following regulations for the purposes of
the said Act; and doth hereby declare that the regulations
hereby made shall have force and effect throughout New
Zealand, subject to the said Act and to any special regulations
made thereunder in force in any acclimatization district.

REGULATIONS.

1. IN these regulations, if not inconsistent with the context,—
   “Authorized officer” means any person appointed by
   the Under-Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs,
   to be an authorized officer for any specified purpose
   under these regulations:
   “Official mark” means any mark mentioned in these
   regulations or in any former regulations respecting
   opossums made under Part III of the said Act or
   under the Animals Protection Amendment Act, 1920:
   “Skins” includes tanned skins, but does not include
   tanned or prepared skins bona fide used as a rug,
   coat, muff, or article of personal or domestic or
   household use or ornament.

2. (1.) Opossums may be taken or killed only in the following manner:—
   (a.) By means of a running noose fixed in such manner
   that the head of the animal will pass through the
   noose.
   (b.) By means of the trap known as the American jump-trap with or without teeth, or by the box trap, or
   by the ordinary rabbit-trap.
   (c.) All such traps for the taking of opossums must be
   placed on the ground while in use.

(2.) Any ranger of any acclimatization society or any
Forest Officer is hereby empowered to seize any traps that are
illegal for the taking of opossums, if being used or found in
use by any trapper.

3. All traps or other contrivances used for the purpose of
   taking opossums must be visited by the licensee at least once
   daily.

4. (1.) A license to take or kill opossums may be issued to
   any person on payment of the prescribed fee, in the form
   No. 1 in the First Schedule hereto, and shall be issued by the
   officers appointed in the special regulations issued in respect
   of each district; provided that no such license shall authorize
   the taking or killing of opossums in any sanctuary or public
   domain.

Except as provided in these regulations, or in any special
regulations made in respect of any district, no person shall
take or kill or assist in the taking or killing of opossums
without previously taking out such a license.

(2.) Notwithstanding anything hereinbefore contained, any
person in bona fide occupation of any land, and any one son
or daughter of such person, may take or kill opossums on
that land without a license (but subject to all other restrictions and conditions imposed by or under the said Act or
these regulations) during any open season in which opossums
may lawfully be taken or killed under a license in the district
within the boundaries of which such land is situated. The
skins of all opossums so killed may be disposed of only as
provided by regulation 7 hereof.

Provided that before any person takes or kills opossums
pursuant to this subclause he shall first send notification of
his intention so to do to the Secretary of the acclimatization
society in whose district his property is situated. Such
notification shall contain full particulars of such property.

5. It shall be the duty of every person desiring to take or
   kill opossums in any State forest, provisional State forest,
   forest reserve, forest plantation reserve, bush reserve, timber
   reserve, reserve for the growth and preservation of timber,
   to obtain the written consent of a Conservator of Forests
   or of a responsible officer of the State Forest Service having
   control thereof; or in any Crown lands, scenic reserve, or
   any public reserve, to obtain the written consent of the Commissioner of Crown Lands or of any Board having control
   thereof. In the case of reserves in the Rotorua Acclimatization District under the Tourist and Health Resorts Control
   Act, 1908, the written consent of the General Manager of the
   Tourist and Health Resorts Department or his appointee
   must be obtained. Notification of consent must be endorsed
   on the license by the issuing officer. This authority must be
   presented when applying for the issue of a license to take or
   kill opossums in any area mentioned in this regulation, and no
   license shall be issued without the production of such written
   authority.

6. The holder of any license is not entitled by virtue
   of such license to enter upon any private land without the
   consent of the owner or occupier thereof; or upon any State
   forest, provisional State forest, forest reserve, forest plantation reserve, bush reserve, timber reserve, or reserve for the
   growth and preservation of timber, without the written
   authority of a Conservator of Forests or of a responsible
   officer of the State Forest Service having control thereof;
   or upon any Crown land, scenic reserve, or any public reserve
   without the written authority of a Commissioner of Crown
   Lands or of any Board having control thereof; or upon any
   reserve under the Tourist and Health Resorts Control Act,
   1908, without the written authority of the General Manager of
   the Tourist and Health Resorts Department or his appointee.

7. Any person may dispose of opossum-skins by gift, sale,
   or otherwise howsoever if such skins bear the official mark:
   Provided that skins which do not bear the official mark
   may be disposed of to or by a licensed broker only.

8. A person consigning or delivering skins of opossums to
   a licensed broker for sale must send therewith a true and
   correct statement in writing, in the form No. 2 in the First
   Schedule hereto, signed by him, specifying the nature and
   number of skins, and certifying that such skins were obtained
   from animals taken or killed in a district for which an open
   season prevailed during the time such animals were taken or
   killed, and such skins must be produced to the secretary or
   to the ranger of the acclimatization society in whose district
   the skins were taken, or to a Postmaster or to the Government Tourist Agent at Rotorua or to a Ranger of that Department or to any authorized stamping officer or to any other
   person specially authorized for that purpose, in order that
   such person may place his certificate at the foot of such
   statement. No person shall accept delivery of such skins
   unless accompanied by such statement and certificate. Any
   person committing a breach of this regulation shall for every
   such offence be liable to a penalty not exceeding £20.

Such statement shall be made in duplicate, one copy to
accompany the skins forwarded for sale, and the other copy
to be forwarded direct to the Under-Secretary, Department
of Internal Affairs:

This regulation shall also apply to skins which are not sold
to or by a licensed broker, except that the original copy of
the statement shall be forwarded with the skins to the stamping officer.

9. No person or firm shall act as a broker under these
   regulations without first taking out an annual license, to be
   called a broker’s license, in the form No. 3 in the First Schedule
   hereto. Such license may be obtained from the Under-Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs, on application in
   the form No. 4 in the First Schedule hereto, upon payment
   of a fee of 21s., and shall expire on the 30th day of April
   following the date thereof:

Provided that a separate license must be taken out in
respect of every branch of any business.

10. It shall be the duty of every licensed broker to collect
    from the vendor a royalty of 1s. on every skin sold to or by
    him, upon which he shall be allowed a commission of £5 per
    cent., payable after his returns have been sent in as provided
    in regulation 14. Such royalty shall be paid to the authorized
    officer before the royalty-paid stamp is affixed by him.

11. No skins shall be delivered by a licensed broker unless
    they have been stamped to show that the royalty has been
    paid:

Provided that skins in possession of a broker which have
not been stamped, and upon which royalty has not been paid,
may be delivered to the buyer or returned to the seller
where authority to do so has been granted by the Under-Secretary, Department of Internal Affairs; and such authority may be granted on such conditions as the said Under-Secretary thinks fit to impose.

12. For the purpose of complying with these regulations,
    the licensed broker shall notify the officer appointed to
    stamp skins and collect royalty from brokers at least three
    days before any auction sale of skins takes place; and in
    case of a private sale, such notification must be given
    immediately the sale is effected.