ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

New Zealand Mail, Issue 1263, 14 May 1896, Page 32

ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of tho Wellington Acclimatisation Society was held last week in the Museum. Mr W. 11. Heetham was in tho chair. The annual report, (a summary of which has been published in the Mail) was adopted, as was also tho balance-sheet, which showed a balance in hand of £l3l IDs Bd. Mr N. J. Tone was elected a life member of the Society for the disinterested manner in which ho had worked in stocking the streams in the Forty-Mile Bush. Messrs C. 11. Izard, W. It. Morris and T. E. Donne were also elected life members. Tho rules were altered so as to allow tho Council to engage a paid secretary if thought necessary.

Tho election of officers resulted as follows: —President, His Excellency tho Governor (re-elected) ; vice-presidents, Sir James Hector, Major-Gencral Schaw (reelected); council, Messrs W. 11. Heetham, T. E. Donne, J. Holmes, J. Bidwill, C. 11. Izard, W. It. .Morris, J. E. Smith, J. H. Stringer, A. J. Kutheifiird, L. G. Keid (reelected), C. White and X. J. Tone.

On tlie motion of Mr Izard, votes of thanks were passed to Mr Ayson, tho curator of the Masterton fish ponds, whoso work was highly eulogised, and to Mr Moorhonso, the Society's ranger.

A letter was read from Mr Corrio, chairman of Lho Queensland Acclimatisation Society, who congratulated tho local Society on the satisfactory condition shown by its report. Tho writer also suggested that the Society should go in for plant iut reduction. The- Secretary stated that the Society bad been frying to obtain a lease from tho City Council of tho reserve (about -1-UUO acres) north of tho dam at Wainui-o-mata for tho purpose ol breeding doers. The Council of the Acclimatisation Society in their annual report state that tho work carried on at the Masterton fish ponds during I'i'.t.j III) was on a larger scale than in any previous year in the Society's history. The number of ova taken from different kinds of .:-il,nuiiiil'i was l,. r i32,ooo,from which 1,226,570 (or say 80 per cent ) were disposed of either as eyed ova or fry ; 00(5,450 young fish being gratuitously liberated in the waters included in the Society's district. Aided by a handsome donation from tho Government of £IOO, 110.000 ova were sent to tho Totara Flat hatchery on the West Coast of tho South Island, and 100,000 to lake Taupo in tho interior ol flic North Island, both lots being successfully hatched out, and liberated in the waters, in outlying districts. Tho New South Wales Government also obtained a

supply of 85,000 ova, which were sent to Sydney to be hatched out and liberated in their mountain (streams, for which servico they contributed £SO to this Society's funds. The results at the Masterton fish ponds would compare favourably with those obtained at many of the State hatcheries on tho European Continent and tho United States of America, whore large sums of money were annually expended by their Governments. Owing to the favourable conditions under which the

of the curator, the cost of the work done was in many cases less, though the rate of wages ruling is higher.