SALMON OVA TO NEW ZEALAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 853, 4 April 1868, Page 13

SALMON OVA TO NEW ZEALAND.

(To the Editor of the Times. )

Sir — The Provincial, Government of Otago, New Zealand, during the course of last year, voted, through Mr John Auld, W.S. of Edinburgh, the 1 »earident agent for Otago, the sum of LlOOftfor the introduction of salmon into one of the three chief rivers of the Province, viz., the Waitaki, the Molyneux, and the Matauxa. These rivers rise from mountains, and where not interfered with by the washing of gold ore, have good tributaries, in which the fish, it is trusted, will eventually make their nests ; and good estuaries, in which the smolts may grow into adult salmon. The clipper ship Celestial Queen, commanded by Captain Watt, has been chosen as the bearer of this valuable cargo. A compartment measuring 16ft by 12ft, and lift high, has been built abaft the fore hatch ; this occupies the space of 55 tons. It is lined throughout with sheet lead, and is completely isolated by means of a 9-inch layer of charcoal. The cover, or rather plug, for the entrance, is also rammed with charcoal, and covered with sheet lead. When the boxes of ova are deposited, and the complement of ice is superadded, the plug is soldered down from the outside ; and the ice-house, with its valuable contents, is hermetically sealed.

The obtaining a large quantity of salmon eggs in good condition has caused anxiety to those who undertook the experiment, hut by continuous exertions they have now collected and stowed away in the ice-house boxes containing, as approximately calculated, upwards of 200,000 ova.

Eor permission to take these, the Government of Otago have to thank the Boards of Conservators and riparian proprietors of the rivers Severn, Wye, Tyne, Dovery, and Tweed, as well as Major Horsfall, of Screbe, county of Galway. Experienced persons have been employed to take the ova from the parent fish — an operation which, if carefully performed, does not injure the fish in the least.

The ova were immediately brought down by express trains to St. Katherine's Dock, and at once packed in the boxes and stowed away in the ice-house. The mode of packing is as follows :—: —

A sprinkling of charcoal, as a purifier, is first laid at the bottom of each box, then a handful of pounded ice ; over this a bed of freshly-washed moss, the upper portion of which is left loose and soft for the ova. These are then poured out of the vessel in which they are brought over the moss in a thin layer, probably from 500 to 1000. Another layer of moss is gently placed over them, then a sprinkling of water, and another handful of ice. The box is then screwed down and transferred at once to the ice-house. Here the boxes are bid side by side as closely as they will pack on the grating at the bottom of the floor of the lead chamber, and huge blocks of Wenham Lake ice, two feet square, are laid on the top of them. This operation is continued until the whole floor is covered with boxes. The blocks of ice fit closely together over them, any interstices being carefully filled in as the blocks are piled up until the superstructure is completed, and the whole space presents one solid, mass of ice. On the very top of the ice another layer of foxes is again placed, wedged against the ceiling. In order to stock the lakes of New Zealand several boxes containing the ova of the " ombre chevalier," a species o f charr, have been brought with great personal Labor by Mr.E. V. Lindon from the neighborhood of Munich. These have been presented by the King of Bavaria, whose officers afforded Mr Linden every facility in obtaining them from the Royal preserves. A box of these has been presented to me by Mr Linden, and I have transferred them to General Seymour. They will be hatched out in the slate breeding-troughs which have now been at work for the last two years, under the immediate superintendence of Mr J. Menzies, in Windsor Great Park, for the purpose of stocking the Obelisk-pond with great lake trout. The whole of the details of packing the various ova in the boxes have been undertaken by Mr J. Youl, who has given his gratuitous and experienced services in this most imj)ortant matter. Mr Youl's name is well known both in England and Australia as the gentleman who has already sent out two consignments of salmon ova to the antipodes, and the public, both of Tasmania, and I now of New Zealand, have ample reason for gratitude to this most energetic and painstaking gentleman. Living fish will also be sent ox;t on board the Celestial Queen, viz : — Gudgeon from the Thames, presented by Mr S. Ponder, who has now in his hatching troughs at Hampton, upwards of 70,000 salmon ova for the Thames. Carp and tench, presented by Mr Higford Burr, of Aldermaston Park, and also some eggs of pure Dorking fowls, presented by Mr H.

D. Harrison, of Cockfield, placed in the 1 ice-house,, to see if the low temperature* will arrest the development in them, as it has been proved to do in ihe case of the* eggs of fish. Should the experiment succeed, it will open up a new feature in practical natural history — i.e., the transport of the eggs of valuable game birda from distant localities. We, therefore,, look forward to the result with anxiety. An experiment will also he tried •with, English oysters from the River Roach, Essex, presented by Mr F. Wiseman, of Paglesham. Oysters are found naturally in New Zealand, Irat if the culture of a better class could be instituted, thei* is a chance of an additional source of foodbeing supplied to the Colony.

The superintendence of the salmon ova, the living fish, &c, has been intrusted tp Mr R Dawben, who has been engaged expressly to accompany them to Otago ; he will also for two years take the superintendence of the breeding establishment in Otago. For my own part, I have contributed the eggs of the river trout — they are now doing exceedingly well in Tasmania — taken by myself from fish in the park of the Earl of Essex, at Cassiobury, and presented by his Lordship, a series of preparations illustrating the development of the salmon from the egg to the adult fish of 301b. weight, and also plr.ster casts of British fish, with a view of forming a nucleus of a museum in Otago. The very numerous details of this great and important experiment of transferring the ova of the most valuable of British fish, with ajview of affording a new and excellent food to our friends and relations at the Antipodes, could not have been carried out except by some active mind to regulate and control the necessary machinery.

Mr William Carr Young, who has resided 13 years at Dunedinj Otago, has been requested by the Provincial Government to undertake the supervision of all the arrangements, and they ought to be exceedingly obliged to him for the manner in which he has conducted the experiments in England. No hitch whatever has occurred in any part of his well-considered plans, and by the untiring energy he himself has shown, he has enlisted the personal activity and interest of his staff of assistants ; for in a matter of this kind, where so much depends upon extreme care and promptitude, friendly zeal and co-operation are absolutely necessary to bring the experiment to the successful conclusion now so happily accomplished.

The Celestial Queen will leave the docks this morning, at 4 a.m. She is expected to arrive at Otago in about 90 days, and may good luck go with her. 1 remain, yours obediently, Frank Bttckland, Inspector of Salmon Fisheries. 4 Old Palace -yard, Westminster, Jan. 16.