OYSTER CULTIVATION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22490, 6 August 1936, Page 10

OYSTER CULTIVATION

At the instance of Mr. H. Luke the Auckland Harbour Board's committee set up last year to investigate oyster cultivation has been asked to present a report. Other bodies are interested in the question. During the past two years the Auckland Chamber of Commerce has often expressed the opinion that oyster farming has the possibilities of an important industry, and individuals who have studied the methods successfully employed in many of the tidal waters of New South Wales have pleaded with the authorities for opportunity to be given to private enterprise to operate. It has been urged repeatedly that in many parts of the Auckland coast foreshore farmers could combine 9yster cultivation with agriculture and enlarge their income. But the Marine Department has remained obdurate. Because some experiments on a minor scale carried out by the department some eight or 10 years ago were not successful the chief inspector of fisheries appears to regard the question as closed. This judgment cannot be accepted. He has admitted that some of the trays used in one case collapsed, and it has also been stated that stakes bearing bark that would last long enough in salt water were not used. There are numbers of- men in Auckland, having closely studied the question both here and in Australia, who are convinced that the conditions obtaining here do not preclude success, and they have indicated that they would start cultivation at their own risk. That being so, there is no justification for the obstacle of State monopoly to be allowed to stand in their way. There is a suspicion in the minds of some people that the real objection is the fear that if private cultivation were permitted there might be greater difficulty in protecting the natural beds against poachers. Whatever the reason it should not be allowed to frustrate enterprise.