FRESH WATER SPECIES

Evening Post, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 79, 30 September 1914, Page 3

FRESH WATER SPECIES

AQUARIUM AT THE ZOO OFFICIALLY OPENED BY MINISTER OF MARINE. American stream trout, golden carp, rainbow trout, perch, American brown trout, quinnat salmon trout, silver carp, English brown trout, and cat fish, are some of the finny fresh water specimens to be seen in the aquarium which was officially opened at the Newtown Zoo yesterday afternoon. The aquarium was formerly associated with the Auckland Exhibition, and, as the result of representations made by the Marine Department and the public men of this city who had the welfare of the Zoo at heart, was handed over by the Government to be installed at Newtown. In all, it comprises sixteen tanks, erected some distance from the entrance, on the right side of the track which leads straight up from the main gate. The tanks are a few feet apart and have been encased in cubes of rock, while the whole embankment has been covered with the same material. The interstices have been planted with ferns and shrubbery, and when these have obtained a proper foothold and rear their green heads skyward the whole layout of the aquarium will be a very attractive and pleasing one. The opening ceremony was attended by a fair sprinkling of the public, but no doubt the blustering, biting southerly which sprang up during the afternoon prevented the attendance from being larger. Councillor G. Frost, Chairman of the Reserves Committee of the City Council, acted as chairman, and after apologising for the absence of the Prime Minister and Mrs. Maesey, Hon. W. Fraser (Minister of Public Works), Hon. R. Heaton Rhodes (Postmaster-General), and the Mayor (Mr. J. P. Luke), thanked the Government, on behalf of the Mayor and citizens, for its magnificent gift, which, he said, would afford a great education to the older people as well as the children of Wellington. He also mentioned the great amount of interest taken in the Zoo by Mr. D. C. Bates, the Hon. T. W. Hislop (ex-Mayor), and the Rev. Mr. Crewes, and stated he considered the Zoo was one of the best assets the city could have for the benefit of the public. The institution, he said, had passed through three stages. When it was first opened tlj.e little band of helpers were ridiculed, later on they were criticised for expending the city's revenue, but "to-day they were being eulogised for the work they had given effect to. He concluded by thanking the Hon. F. M. B. Fisher (Minister of Marine) for helpipg, through his Department, to persuade the Government to make the aquarium a gift to the city. The Hon. F. M. B. Fisher said that although the opening was a small and informal one, the aquarium was going ♦» bo a credit to the capital city of Wei lington. He hoped it would be possible to institute an aquarium that would not only interest the people who were growii up, but would afford, the young people an opportunity of studying the habits and lives of the fishes of this and other countries. If the City Council could persuade, say, half a dozen prominent citizens every year to give a tank each, it would scon be possible to build up a very line aquarium. He would like to see salt water brought up so that theVo might also be a, display of salt-water fish, and the City Council's machinery in the vicinity could supply all the pumping power that would be required. Be had arranged with Professor Prince (Canadian Commissioner of Fisheries) to send specimens from Australia, Honolulu, and Canada, and these would require more tank accommodation. By working together the Marine Department and the City Council might W tween them establish an aquarium equal to thos« in. Sydney and Melbourne. Amid applause the Minister then declared the aquarium officially opened. Mr. D. C. Bates traced the history of the Zoo from the time when it was one of the neglected places of Wellington, and " the beautiful lake was a dirty pond in which the ohildren were in danger of getting drowned." In 1906, he continued, the promoters of the Zoo had had a lion thrown at them. The lion got away, and he (the speaker) went to New , Plymouth and brought it back in a box when it was only eighteen months old. (Laughter.) The unexpected had happened, for not only were they looking above the earth for specimens for the Zoo, but below the sea, and to-day, with the opening of the aquarium, they were able to study the most difficult department of natural history. He hoped and trusted the Zoo would grow to be the pride of the city. After the Rev. Mr. Crewes had thanked the Minister Councillor Frost, and Mr. Bates for the enthusiastic interest they had taken in the welfare of the Zoo, the little ceremony terminated.