D. A. Cameron is still the lessee of the run in question, and whilst writing I can see his stock from my window.”
Mr. Alex. Elliott, from Kinloch Bay, Elgin, adds his testimony, saying:—“I am sure that Mr. Buller made a great mistake when stating that Mr. D. A. Cameron of the Nokomai surrendered his run through the Keas. I know the Nokomai very well, and also Mr. Cameron, and can safely say that the Kea was never any trouble there.”
Finally, in order to satisfy myself thoroughly, I wrote to Mr. D. A. Cameron himself and received the following reply:—
“Dear Sir,
My son Alec has handed me your letter of the 19th inst., re “Kea.” There is no truth in the statement that I ever intended to give up my run owing to excessive damage done by Keas. Many years ago we had a few here, but they did not do much damage to the sheep; but on the Closeburn run on Lake Wakatipu they were very troublesome. I have been informed that the Lake County paid 2s. 6d. each when they were at their worst, in order to destroy them. Of late years they have not been troublesome on that run either. I have no idea where Mr. Buller and the papers got their information.
Apart from these erroneous published reports it is almost impossible to get any true estimate of the annual losses, owing to the nature of the country and the uncertainty of the reports sent in.
The country is so vast and mountainous, and the sheep are only mustered at such long intervals, that when the annual loss is estimated it is impossible to know what percentage must be debited against the Kea.
There is always a large annual loss due to roughness of the country, this causing many sheep to be killed by their falling over cliffs or being buried in the snow.
