SALMON TROUT IN NEW ZEALAND.

Press, Volume LII, Issue 9176, 6 August 1895, Page 3

SALMON TROUT IN NEW ZEALAND.

TO THE EDITOR. OF THE PRESS. Sik, —_ie Deans' letter, quoted by Mr • Spackman in your i__u: this morning, is the moat extraordinary and erroneous statement I ever met with, he (Deans) being the very man who delivered the young fish to mc ac the Dunedin Railway Station, by orders from the Council of the Otago AcclimatisaI tion Society, as a gift to the Canterbury | Society. Being in Dunedin at the time, I attended -he meeting of the Otago Council (Mr J. P. 'i_itland, Chairman, the late Air W. Arthur, iton. Secretary), when a resolution was agreed to that a certain number ' of "salmon trout" fry (I think 500, but I am not quite sure of the number, or date, it being so long since, and the correspondence having passed ont of my hands) should be delivered by Deans tj mc at the railway I station on my return to Christchurch. I brought them without loss, and delivered them at the Society's Gardens. They were put into a small r_ c, where they grew, and were subsequently' transferred to a pond, kept as a distinct f*3_, and from them ova was taken for some years previous to my cruel removal from the office of Secretary, which I had held for twenty-two years. That salmon trout (salmo trutta) have existed in New Zealind waters, and doubtless still exist, I will give the following quotations : —*' The Otago Acclimatisation Society's report ' for 1883 complains that the salmon trout continue to be poached in Otago Harbour, but none have been taken in any river." Previous to this, from a report on a clipping I have just met with, I find*the following:—"ln 1574 Captain Hutton exhibited at a meeting of the Otago Institute a sea trout caught in Otago Harbour, and stated that another capture had been recently made." " Dr. Hector had a sea trout sent 'him, caught in Nelson Harbour in September, 1881, near to the mouth of the Matai. It proved to b? a female that had just spawned ; 25in. in length." From the Annaal Reports of the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, I find the followin.':— *" In 1888 there were 580 salmon troutin the ponds." " In 1889 there were nine boxes of salmon trout ova in the

fish house." '-In 1890 8000 salmon trout were distributed." "1891, 9200 salmon trout distributed." "1892, 6000 distributed." «-1894, 8000 sold and distributed. '* During the years mentioned Mr Spackman was a continuous member of the Council, aud 1 believe (I am writing from memory) took p_rt in the distribution of the 3*oung fry on more than one, occasion, as salmon trout, j without once raising the Question as to j their species, why he should write differently ! now to what he acted then cannot be from practical knowledge, but may be from being misled by leaaing upon another's writings. The above is to vindicats my previous statements aud the part I took ia the transactions. i Thanking you, sir, for space in your I columns.—Yours, <__, | S. C. Farr. August 2nd, 1595. i TO THE EDITOR OF THE PRESS. Sir,—With respeci to the correspondence on thi3 subject which has appeared in your paper, perhaps a few further facts may bs of interest to your readers. Many years previous to the supposed salmon trout being received from Otago by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society, a consignment of salmon trout ova had been obtained from Tasmania ; on opening the box at the Christchurch Gardens a large portion were found to have been hatched and dead in the moss during transit by small steamer. The remaining good eggs, a few hundred, were hatched by myself as then Curator of the Society. The young fish were longer, thinner, and more active, but appeared much more delicate than the common trout. A pond with spawning race through which the whole of the water in the Gardens flowed was especially prepared for their reception, and into which about fifty, all that were reared, were liberated. These at about four years old made some nests and deposited their eggs, at the time of my leaving the Society, but I have never been able to ascertain what Mr Farr did with these salmon trout or a number of Native grayling that I had also obtained from the West Coast for artificial propagation. If Mt Farr has really conserved and propagated from these two valuable first introductions into Canterbury, I consider he is entitled to great credit, and so good a service ought to go far in counterbalancing the numerous mistakes he has made iv acclimatisation matters. —Yours, _c., A. M. John-son*. Troutdale Farm, Opawa.