THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1895. OYSTER CULTURE.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1199, 22 February 1895, Page 22

THE New Zealand Mail. PUBLISHED WEEKLY. FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1895. OYSTER CULTURE.

The question of oyster culture is of vast importance to New Zealand; none the less so because the magnitude of the interest we have in it has not yet begun to enter the dreams of the majority of New Zealanders. When we published the other day an account of the oyster beds at Pahautanui, the public read with interest, but most of them, we venture to think, had not the slightest idea that the prospect embraced more than a supply of a portion of the New Zealand demand. In order to correct that notion, we will briefly review the state of the world's oyster supply. , With the principal seats "of oyster culture, namely, England, France, America, Holland, Germany and Italy, the winter of 1893 played havoc, and from what reaches us as to the severity of the present winter in Europe it is not improbable that the industry may be entirely overwhelmed. The English native supplies have long been falling off. In the Firth of Forth the supply has actually dwindled from millions half a century ago and hundreds of thousands 25 years back to less than 5000. In all, the Scottish beds yield now but some 250,000 oysters a year,, whereas some'years a«?o the Newhaven dredgers alone could count their victims by the million. In the American oyster fisheries, which in 1893 Were estimated to be worth .£2,500,000 a year, yielding a total of 22 million bushels, employing 53,000 men and 4155 ships, the supplies are rapidly diminishing, and a dearth is threatened. In France, in its chief region of oyster culture, the basin of Arcachon, near Bordeaux, exporting till lately some 30 million oysters yearly to England alone, the stock is said to have suffered material injury through frosts, crippling, in consequence, several large companies. The present foreign supplies to England, are, in a favourable season, some 80 million oysters, but the demand is elastic, in fact practically unlimited, for most of the people who consume oysters could eat ten times as many as they get, and too many people get none at all. Thirty - five or 40 years ago, a thousand million oysters a year were 'consumed in London at the then current price of 3d per dozen; in 1864 London imported 700 millions, the price standing at 6d per dozen ; now, with a doubled population and quadrupled wealth, the consumption barely equals an eighth, a fact in itself sufficient to account for the increase in price. New York issaid to consume 900 million oysters a year. Now the oyster abounds in New Zealand waters. It is matter of science that it is the most wonderfully reproductive of all creatures. Given careful cultivation and a properly regulative law, there is no reason why the oysters of New Zealand should not conquer the world by millions. The rock oyster of the North is not the most delicious of all bivalves for no other reason than that the mud oyster of the South runs him very close. There is indeed no question as to the firstrate quality both of the Northern and Southern forms. The climate is equable; which means that the oyster has nothing to fear froni, frosts or from undue warmth of water produced by scorching suns. Moreover, the coast abounds in inlets and protected mud flats, and rocky fastnesses eminently suitable to the production and growth of the most prolific of all creatures, and the most prized for food. Now Zealand, in fact, "has been marked, quoted and signed by nature as the special home of the oyster. There is no reason why New Zealand should hot supply the great markets of the world. Considering the striking suitability ' of the conditions, the enormously ; * prolific power of the oyster, and the immense demand on the part of the consumers, there is no reason why, within five years, New Zealand should not export a thousand million oysters every year. At sixpence per dozen here is an export value of not less than two millions sterling per annum. Wealth is staring us in the face if we will only condescend to stretch forth our hands and take it. The law protects and guarantees and makes possible the industry. We refer, of course, to the law of 1894, which deals very exhaustively and comprehensively with the subject. If the law is insufficient; it can of course be altered. There is no difficulty in sending all the millions we can rake up out of the oyster beds—thus properly protected against wasteful treatment —to market, for they keep fresh in tubs for an indefinite time, provided'! the water is kept fresh on the voyage. Here is an enormous industry awaiting development in every estuary and bay and sound in the Colony. The Pahautanui venture is leading the way. In ten yeais New Zealand ought to be sending a thousand million oysters a year to London alone. Take the rest of England into the calculation, add Europe and the United States, and the oyster fishery of New Zealand will not fall far short of an annual

export value of ten millions sterling a year. In plain terms, we can if we like double the volume of our exports by cultivating the most toothsome of all bivalves in the country *« marked, quoted and signed " by nature as the best on the fa©e of the plahet for his profitable production-. We' must like: