THE OYSTER TRADE.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXV, Issue 9049, 9 May 1888, Page 3

THE OYSTER TRADE.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir, —It appears to ine that; most of out laws are made for lawyers to squabble over and ruin trade. If Parliament, met and repealed every Act they ever made, and sacked all the Government officials, and then adjourned for fifty years, the country would be prosperous. Every law seeme to be made to increase taxation and cripple industries. We find the authorities now squabbling over the question of shore, mud, and rock oysters. I could «how them oysters growing on pohutukawa timber, and fine oysters they are. I suppose this kind will be timber oysters. Tho timber is on the mud, but on a level with the rocks where oysters are growing, so they must be a breed half-way l>etween mud laid rock, with a tenacious grip on timber inclining to " shore." Now, the gum is low, the timber trade at a standstill, and retrenchment driving everybody mad with mearineiss, it> is time to foster other industries. Any observant person can see that the more the oysters are picked or thinned out the belter will be the crop produced. About t,wea\ty years- since .there was scarcely a load of good oysters to be got. All the rocks and beds were covered with oysters more or ltiss diseased, and dying for the want of being picked. The only good oysters were near Maori settlements, where they had been picked or thinned out. TLo first or old crop is seldom any good. Ifc would be more sensible ior the Government to employ the unemploy\xl at clearing off the whole lot from the roc k *, so as to allow new oysters to form, than it is to close up the grounds and drive him • dreds of men out of Auckland. Good oysters were worth 10s per sack 20 years ago, or before the Thames goldfield opened, and 5s per sack when the Governmenb closed the grounds, a few years ago. Surely the times were hard enough before tiu> Thames broke out to bring down the price of oysters if any could be got. When times were good and labour fully employed, the price came down to 5s per sack, which is clear proof that the oyster beds improved with picking. I shall have no more to say on the subject, as I am not personally interested in opening the grounds. But I would remind every taxpayer in Auckland that every man leaving our shores lessens his ability to pay the taxes, so everybody is as much interested in the welfare of the place as I am. If you, Mr. Editor, have the true interests of Auckland at heart, you should wield your pow erfuJ pen on the side of common sense.—l am, &c, Rakino Island. Albert Sanfobd.