ARRIVAL OF THE SALMON OVA.

Press, Volume XIV, Issue 1887, 3 May 1869, Page 2

ARRIVAL OF THE SALMON OVA.

On Friday evening a telegram was received by the Curator of the Canterbury AceliniitfUa. tion Society, stating that a portion of tho salmon ova brought to Otngo by tho Mindora from England would bo forwarded by the steamer Gothenburg, winch w;\B to loavo th»t evening for Lyttolton. Mr Johnson accordingly mado all tho necessary arrangements for receiving the ova from tho ship, and its cafe transmission to Chriatehurch by rail. Tho Gothenburg left Port Chalmers at 10 p m. on Friday, and arrived at Lytlelton at 4 ym. on Saturday. Fifteen boxes of tho ovr«, enclosed in a largo case, and surrounded with ice, were placed on board at Port Chalmers under tho charge of Sergeant Quinn, of the Otago Polico Force. To guard against injury to tho ova from tho motion of tho steamer, the case was suspended on deck by means of India rubber slings. Aβ soon as the Gothenburg anchorod in Lyttelton harbor, Mr Johnson proceeded on board, and with the assistance of SorgeanS Quinn and Messrs Reed and Carder, romored the case containing tho ova into a boat end conveyed it to the Railway wharf, where it was opened, and some of the boxes feraored and placed in baskets surrounded by ico, Most of these were slung in tho railway carl riages, but some were borne in the hand by passengers, Mr Johnson finding many volun. teers to assist him. As goon a3 these menta were finished lie proceeded by train to Christen urch, leaving Sorgeant Quina to follow with the box containing the remainder of the boxes of oto, Mr Johnson, on reaching Christchurch at six o'clock, was received at the Railway station by Mr R. W. Fereday, one of the Council of the Acclimatisation Society, and the baskets con» taining the boxes were at onco removed to tho society's grounds, being carried by several gentlemen who volunteered their eervioes for the occasion. Sergeant Quinn arrived nfi seven o'clock, and the ca9e was removed to the grounds in a light spring wagon, drawn at a walking pace. Meanwhile the work of unpacking the boxes had commenced and was continued until midnight, the ova being placed in the hatching boxes, through which a etreain of iced water waa flowing, the temperature of tho water being gradually heightened by diminishing tho supply of ice until it reached the tempera* ture of the ordinary artesian supply. From the long continued voyage of the Mm* dora, she having been detained in the channel for over a month by contrary winds, and hay* ing since then experienced light winds and calms, a large proportion of the ova is worthless, still, through the improved method pursued in England of packing the ova in moss, there am hopes that a small proportion of that received in Christchurch may be successfully hatched. Mr Johnson states that a f«w days will determine whether the experiment will be successful in a small degree. We understand that the ova retained in Otago are precisely in the same state aa those received in Ohristchurch.