WHITEBAIT CANNING.

Press, Volume LVIII, Issue 10869, 19 January 1901, Page 3

WHITEBAIT CANNING.

yF 'A WEST COAST INDUSTRY.. ' From away Iback in the years 1864-5, ■when the great rush to the West Coast goldfields took place, the residents of Hokitik* and the surrounding districts have been impressed iby the enormous quantities of whicabait that visit the HokMka, xiive-r during the last three months of each year. When the fish begin to arrive a email local trade is done by a few fishermen, but the great quantity and the cheapness cause people to get tired of the fish, and the trade dies out. At one time the Chinamen living on the banks of the river used to catch the whitebait dn great quantities and use it for manure on their gardens. About six years ago ~Mr G. A. Wood came to the conclusion that a paying industry could be developed by canning and preserving the fish, and he erected a. factory on the bank of the river. The trade has grown beyond his inbsb sanguine expectations. The fish are caught in nets of mosquito netting. These are either stationary or dragged through the water on poles as circumstances dictate. Immediately the fish are caught they are, at the factory, put into large, perforated tin troughs to allow of the water draining from them. While draining they are picked over, and any other small fish that may/iiave been caught with the whitebait are extracted. When thoroughly drained they are put into one-pound tins, being pressed in tightly by means of cylinder-shaped funnels md wooden stampers. The tins, when filled, are placed on a side bench and wiped dry f'«• soldering purposes. They are then put on trays containing eighteen each and the top 3 are soldered on, alter which the tins are {(laced on iron trays ready for cooking, iach tray holds about six dozen tins, and when nine are filled up they are stacked on a trolley and run. into a large oven or retort for the cooking, which k done by steam. After one and a. half hours they are taken out again, and the small hole, left in the middle of the top to let .the steam out of the tin, is soldered up. They are then finally cooked for half an hour, after which the tins are put into large barrels of water where they remain for some hours. They are then taken out. and rubbed in sawdust, which dries and cleans them, and they are stacked away on wooden trays for lacqtrering, which is done when the season is over. Very handsome labels are attached, and the tins are packed ready for export. The fish are shipped to all parts of the world, and are considered a great delicacy. Mr "Wood makes his own tin, and cases. The work fluctuates according to the weather, and occasionally when the catch ii good all hands will put in twenty hours' work at a stretch.