THE OYSTER BEDS.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10404, 31 March 1897, Page 6

THE OYSTER BEDS.

TO THE EDITOR.

Sir,—l have read Mr. E. Ford's letter re Northern oyster beds, and as he is an authority on the matter, I have no doubt of the truth of his statement. Now does it not strike you thht the New Zealanders have some right to use the gifts that God hns given them, and that the time has arrived when the export tif rock oysters must cease. When we have a scarcity there is no room for export. The grounds should be open for local consumption only. At present retailers are paying an exorbitant price by being in competition with those Sydney traders, " birds of passage," who ijome here during the open season and gather the harvest of the sea, then clear out of the country. Now there is another aspect that the Government should not lose sight of. It is this. A day may come when these hunted oyster aud fishermen will be wanted to help to guard our shores from some foreign enemy, and from the very nature of their occupation they will make a valuable naval brigade. Those boats are a nursery for hardy seamen, and when fighting comes will be found all there. Now last season I observed with much sorrow, men being fined and imprisoned, their boats confiscated and sold, for gathering a few oysters to keep the wolf from their door.

For men must work and women must weep, For there's little to earn and many to keep. Now sir, had the export been stopped until there was an abundance of oysters, there would be no inducement for men to break the law. We have a growing population in New Zealand that will be able to consume all the oysters we can rear in a very few years time, and so the outsiders will have to look to their own coasts for the delicious oyster. In conclusion allow mo to point out that the export of oysters benefits a few people at the expense of the whole community.—l am, etc., Joseph Lowsdes. Newmarket, March 29,1897.