THE The New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXI, Issue 6966, 15 March 1884, Page 4

THE The New Zealand Herald AND DAILY SOUTHERN CROSS. SATURDAY, MARCH 15, 1884.

The resources of the sea ought long ; since l to have shared»our attention here. : with the ...land, Imt: there are favourable" auguries just now, . which { we. trust- will - comer to something; Exertions are .again lining, made. to . establish a'company for,tho prosecution . of. the'fisheries and also, ior oyster cule "lure ■ in the,' neighbourhood of Aucke. land ; and our London correspondent.

informs us by the last mail that among tho several proposals which are now ftfloat there with New Zealand for the (iold, " ifc is thought that something m*.y be done in the way of developing the fisheries of the Bay of Plenty, if practised fishermen from Cornwall or the coasts of Scotland were taken out to New, Zealand." Then there are the continued endeavours to introduce into our rivers snd seas that king.of fishes, the salmon. Thanks to all the pains taken on behalf of New Zealand by that enlightened enthusiast in such matters, Sir J. R. G. Maitland, 60,000 ova packed in the most careful manner have been shipped by the lonic ; and the AgentGeneral , has intimated that - further supplies are. to be ■ sent: from, various quarters., Indeed, pisciculture is the only branch of the. fishery opportunities or . resources of ...these colonies so far attended to, and it has been taken !up and pursued with great . public and the most praiseworthy per- ' sonal exertion. In New Zealand a multitude of our .inland waters have been thus stocked with foreign varie- ; ties of fish,: in' particular that valuable one, the trout,,is: being. everywhere/introduced through booh these islands. ;.But the efforts to give us at this end of the world the salmon—the most important of all efforts made through a long series of years—appear to be still a failure,, although .every now and: again there is report.of a specimen 1 seen or captured. Evea a dozen .-years ago or further, back, such statements used to reach the ; newspapers: in Tasmania and Victoria; but there is yet no real proof that from all the ova deposited in Australasian waters a single grown salmon has made his appearance;: Of course mistakes ought not to be made in-the sites selected for the experiment, and the requirements of the: salmon are very well known. lie loves seclusion, and .clear water; but the first, experimentun Victoria was: 'tried ! in the liiver Yavra, ■ which;, though ! pure enough when it.descends from the mountains, has afterwards to pass through the bustle and pollution of a great town. And although, two or three centuries back in the mild climate of England the.salmons warmed in tlie rivers; a cold temperature is natural to this fish, and he attains his greatest size in the Arctic seas and in rivers dh'ilTed by the melted snows. A'. species is found in the' Mediterranean, but we believe, the only river which furnishes it to that sea is the Rhone, : which comes down in a strong snowfed current from the Alps. In choosing sites for the. introduction | in these colonies, all the conditions.! have to be carefully looked out for.' In. New Zealand, for instance, it is not our: island but the other island which presents thernost favourable circumstances. The province of Auckland is the place to ; establish, the olive and;the vine ;.0 tago or Southland or Westland is the place to introduce the salmon. ■. The Alps of. Australia approach 7000' feet in height; in New .Zealand they sometimes approach 14,000 feet; We cannot: understand why salmon should /not breed well in the rivers which: flow down from either the New Zealand .or Australian Alps; or from such lofty mountains in this North Island as Tongariro or Ruapehu, and we believe it will yet i be found in all of them ; but it is com-; raon sense to start an , important novelty in the most, promising quarter, and if the experiment does not succeed in the snow-fed waters of Southern New Zealand,, then it ■ will be hopeless to think of establishing the salmon anywhere south of the Line.

Man is omnivorous ]vhis:food should be diversified, and the more the diversity the better for health. Fish, is a riutri.tiouS, wholesome, appetising article of diet," but it is so little used, here 1 that in a district of 80,000 inhabitants the yearly consumption it seems ages only at the rate of. lad, per. head—or, according to the exorbitant retail prices: now charged, one or two mullet or schnapper 111 the year for each individual of the population !: One. would imagine this necessary food: :to be. a .scarce luxury only procurable by import .from the other side of the. globe: whereas our bays and seas offer it to us in infinite variety and abundance. Xor ought there ever to be any difficulty in finding hands for their : capture, because fishing is in our;mild climate a pastime com pared' with what it is in the harsh winds a&d inclement seasons : of the old country. But if there be.a monopoly which will only take -the: produce'from, certain boats, or as was: reported .at the Thames, throw it away, rather than put it in the. market, below an extravagant price, then the. public want cannot be met and the trade , cannot arise as it , ought with such opportunities both of supply and demand, and it ..is.disgracefuL to a great business town that, such a state of things should continue. Let. us hope that the projected company may now get under way) and, put matters on, a natural footing. As we hear, there is talk in London of forming a company to work the fisheries of the Bay of Plenty, if they can get some practised hands from Cornwall or Scotland.. When some time ago in these columns, - speaking 'about our fisheries, we repeatedly recommended the introduction of some of those skilled .men, from the old country to lay the. foundation and., form the nucleus out here of a regular ; sea coast and fishing population, which; would then soon spring up and draw into a fine manly remunerative employment numbers of the too many idle youths of the :.rising generation.:. Soon after we made the suggestion, a member stated in the.Legisr lative Assembly the readiness, to: his knowledge, of fishermen to. cofne here from some of the Scottish.stations;.; arid, respecting the fishermen of St. Ives, in Cornwall, a letter was published in our correspondence irom ;a 1 late resident of that district, who was Chairman of the School Board there,., and surgeon of the Coast Brigade; As lie said, the men required.' 1 could.be placed under the : most favoured: clauses of the Emigration Act; and their free, passages being thus secured, a company might be formed to provide boats, nets, long .lines, and other necessary gear;, and, the fishermen might -be paid a. ;: regular wage, as at Lowestoft, or on the share system, as adopted in, the,i West of England."