TROUT OVA AND EGGS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27094, 18 July 1953, Page 2

TROUT OVA AND EGGS

AIR FREIGHT FROM MELBOURNE Tasmanian brown trout ova from Hobart and Rhode Island Red hatching eggs from Melbourne were included in the freight brought to Christchurch for Tasman Empire Airways by the Skymaster Hong Kong Trader yesterday morning. The trout ova were consigned to the Southland Acclimatisation Society, and the eggs were for a Canterbury poultry farmer, Mr C. B. Powell, of Papanui. When the Skymaster left on the return flight to Melbourne it carried in the freight compartment wool samples, films, and oysters.

To compare their respective growth rates, the 100.000 ova flown from Melbourne yesterday will be reared in Southland streams with the same number of New Zealand ova to yearlings. They were sent by the Tasmanian Salmon and Freshwater Fisheries Commissioners, and were flown to Dunedin later in the morning by the National 'Airways Corporation. At Taieri they were picked up by the Acclimatisation Society and taken by truck to Invercargill.

There were 200 eggs from pedigree prize-winning fowls in the consignment for Mr Powell. They were carried in the cabin of the aircraft to keep them warm and arrived in good condition, only 10 being slightly cracked. Mr Powell will put them in an incubator on Tuesday.

A tail wind enabled the Skymaster to arrive at the Christchurch International Airport at 7.37 a.m. instead of the scheduled time of 8.15 a.m. It brought 28 passengers from Melbourne and carried 30 from Christchurch when it left at 11.5 a.m.