Maori "Nature Notes

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 7297, 6 August 1930, Page 8

Maori "Nature Notes

(Specially written for the “Manawatu Daily Times’’) [Copyright J.H.S.] INANGA (semi-transparent) known here and in England as whitebait. British scientists differed seriously as tc whether it was the young of the shad or of the herring. As recently as 1868 English herring fishers sought an injunction to prohibit its capture because otherwise their industry would bo ruined. The high court ruled against them on the ground that the effect would only be local. How a Maori would laugh at the ioke! He had no need to argue; he knew that the inanga is a full grown fish, and his knowledge was akin to and as correct in its conclusions as the instinct of birds and animals. The young fry of the Inanga, known as Ngciro, an inch long, go upstream: the Inanga. a silver beauty of four inches, down-stream several months earlier to spawn, and the reverse direction is never seen. Hinakis are set in weirs built half way across the stream to permit a fair proportion to reach the people dower down and some to reach the spawning grounds at sea. It was not permissable to take or eat the young Ngoiro on the upstream journey. The ancient whitebait dinner for English M.P.’s was revived by Disraeli long after it had lapsed in deference to the herring fishery!