ACCLIMATISATION.

Otago Witness, Issue 1158, 7 February 1874, Page 13

ACCLIMATISATION.

A meeting of the Council of the Acclimatisation Society of Otago was held on Wednesday in the City Council Chambers, The following members were present : — The Chairman (Mr W. T). Murison), Messrs Deans (Manager), Hepburn, Matthews, Oliver, Shenuan, and John Keid.

The Chairman introduced the business by saying that, although there had been no meeting for several months, no doubt the members knew that the Society had not been idle during that time. He did not think there had been any year since the Society existed during which it had done more real work, considering the small expenditure of its funds. During the last few months the Society had turned out a great many thousand trout into the various streams of the Province. In fact, from North to South he should say that there was hardly one stream of any significance that had not boon supplied with trout. He thought it would be difficult to name a Btreain in any part of the Province, within a reasonable distance of Duuodiu— aay 150 inileg-^that had not been stocked with trout. Poa Qt the specif objects (or which Me pro-

sent meeting was called, was to take som i steps to secure the Government bonus, whic i , would lapse in the course of about tw . months, unless the .Society got subscription in order to enable them to claim the fill amount. It would be for the meeting t suggest what steps should betaken to collec ' the money required. He might state tha i the public had not been slow to recognis what the Society had been doing, and hai willingly subscribed. A great many of thos gentlemen living in districts where the trou had been liberated, would be very willing ti give a few pounds each, which would go i long way towards enabling the Society ti raise the sum now required in order to obtaii tho Government bouus. Mr Jlcid hadhandei him a letter from Mr Ewen, an extract fron which would doubtless be of interest. Ni doubt they would recollect that some tinn ago the Society communicated with Mr Ewei on the subject of procuring blade game fron Captain Horatio ltoss, who had previously expressed his willingness to rear those birdi on his own estate in the Highlands, and t( forward them to the Society, if the latte: made the necessary arrangements for shippinj them. M Ewen communicated with Oapt Ross, but it would be seen by an extraci from the letter which he would now reac that he had not in the meantime been sue cessful in getting black game. The ex trad was as follows :—": — " In re acclimatisation, please intimate to the members of the committee of the Society that, although I have been silent, I have not been forgetful of theii commission. Although I cannot report thai I am likely to be able to do much tor then this season — certainly nothing with crabs anc lobsters — for the simple reason that J gathei that to ship them would be just (to almost a certainty) to waste the funds of the .Society, as there js no prospe-jt of their surviving the voyage. My authority, fee., I shall giv€ when I write officially to Mr Murison. Black game have been a complete failure this year, there not being on plenty of themoors as many as there was at the cud of last seasou. My only hope now is that of getting some from Norway ; and to a dealer I have offered JCSC for ten brace, provided he can get them there for me ; but as yet have heard nothing from him, although it is some months since 1 gave the order." TROUT KOR TAJKAXAKr. A telegram was received from Mr Crompton, Deputy -.Superintendent of Taranald, asking the Society if they could furnish trout to that Province to the value of £2o — the trout to be forwarded at once. It was resolved that the trout at the disposal of the Society — about 140— should be given to the Taranaki Government free of charge. THE PJ3RCII IN THE WATER WORKS RESERVOIR. The Chairman remarked that as they were no doubt already aware the perch in the Water Works Reservoir had increased to such an extent as to be lit for catching. The fishing, however, was restricted, as the Water Works Company only allowed such persons as bad their permission to tish there. He (the Chairman) bad had more than one conversation lately with some of the Directors of the Company, and lie suggested to them that as the Society was originally instrumental in procuring the iish, it might not be an unsuitable arrangement to issue tickets for fishing to such persons as cared to have them — the charge made for the tickets to be handed over to the funds of the Society. By that means the Society might be enabled to procure fish of more suitable kinds, not only for the Water Works, but for other places. This suggestion seemed to meet the approval of the Directors to whom he had spoken. Mr Oliver moved--" That the Water Works Company be requested to allow tickets to be issued for perch fishing in the Eeservoir — such tickets to be for a year or season — and a charge of five shillings to be made for each ticket, the amount to be handed over to the Society." This was agreed to. INTRODUCTION 01' SALUOX.

The following letter -was received from the Secretary of the Southland Acclimatisation Society: — "I have the honour, by instruction of the Committee of the Southland Acclimatisation Society, to acknowledge receipt of the pamphlets forwarded by your Society on the propagation of salmon, "and to thank the Society for the same. The subject has been under consideration, and a question has arisen in reference to which we should he glad of the opinion of your S 'uiely, or such information as you have been or may be able to obtain as to whethor the Californian (Oregon) salmon is a rish affording sport in the taking. This is a matter upon which some difference of opinion exists here, and is, a« you are aware, an object in the consideration of the question. We shall be glad to hear from you, and in the meantime shall be happy to serve your Society in any way in which occasion may arise. "

After the reading of this letter, a general conversation took place with respecf to tho introduction of salmon, in the course of which

The Chairman stated that of late his opinions had undergone a change with respect to the introduction of salmon. His idea now was that they might do bettor than try to get salmon for this Province, if they wanted to introduce really good fish, which in time would be an article of food greatly consumed by the inhabitants. If they considered the nature of their fresh waters, it would be found that tho fresh water within tho area of the Province diri not so much consist of large rivers as of lakes, and if they wanted to get suitable fish, they must get good lake fish. Moreover, the boafc rivers they had were uot altogether wited fry fi»h.

3 Take their largest river, the Clutha, for in1 stance, he doubted ■whether they could get any ) fish to live in it in any great numbers. la 3 some parts of the world, not only in Europe, I but especially in America, some of the finest ) fish that existed were lake lisa, and the 3 persons living on the borders of those lakes t not only lived to a great extent on the fish, j but also made ifc an article of export. If they I wanted to make provision in their fresh i waters for a large supply of fibh for the ; benefit of the future population of the > country, his idea was that, instead of devotii ing so much time to procuring salmon, it » would be better for the Government — bei cause he thought ifc would be too exteusive '. |an undei taking for a Society — to get the i . best information as to the most suitable i kinds of lake h'sh. Having ascertained ! the temperature of the lakes here, they . could get a good idea as to what kinds of fish would be best suited for our lacustrine ■ system. He was pretty sure that by stock - i ing their lakes they would secure a supply of • fish that they could not hope to obtain by merely spending money in an almost useless ; attempt to acclimatise salmon. Perhaps their rivers were not unsuitable frr salmon, but at the same time he was satisfied they would never produce salmon in sufficient numbers to be of any great value to the county. He might say that these remarks were not hastily made, as he had given considerable attention to the subject. Mr Suenna^ asked what place would be moat suitable to obtain the fish. The Chairman pointed out that there were a great many American fish that -would be very suitable. Ho saw that in England many landed proprietors were introducing lake fish from America in great numbers, and very successfully. These experiments had been mainly brought about by the suggestion of MrSethGreon, and other American pisciculturists. Mr Bucklandand others had also recommended that course to be taken. Tn some European hakes there was a very valuable fish called the lake salmon, which, unlike the river salmon, goes in shoals. These, however, were matters »of detail.^ The great point he wished to direct attention to was that our lakes are not utilised in any degree. If they wanted to avail themselves of the fresh water system for the purpose of supplying a large quantity of fish for the future population, it was to their lake system, and not to their river system, that they should look. Mr Shennan : The fish in the rivers would likely find their way into the lakes. The Chairman : Yes ; but would they remain there ? Mr Oliver said that while he recognised the importance of the remarks made by the Chairman, he was loth to believe that the salmon experiment ought to be regarded as a failure. If the rivers of this Province were not so suitable as they could wish, yet there were other rivers in this Island and the North Island, whish he thought were far more suitable for salmon. And as they had begun this work, it would be a pity if anything transpired at the meeting which might damp the ardour either o£ the Government or of private individuals in attempting to introduce salmon. At the same time, he thought it was quite within the proper sphere ot the Society, either by its own action, or by suggestion to the Government, to seek the introduction of lake fish. 1c was a matter that probably had been too long neglected. No doubt there was a great deal of truth in what the Chairman had said as to the greater suitability of the fresh water of this Province for lake fish, and it would be quite proper for them to do what they could within the limits of their funds, and by urging consideration of the matter by the Government, without at all seeking to discontinue their efforts with re spect to the introduction of salmon. The Chaikman said he would not like to sec the salmon experiment given up. What he was afraid of was that this effort to spend money in introducing salmon only had probably caused them to lose sight of what might be successfully done in another direc tion. _ He would not suggest that tho salmon experiment should be given up. He thought it was quite beyond the power of the iSociety | to do anything, but a recommendation might be made which would have the effect of inducing the Government to make enquiry. Mr Oliver thought their duty in tha matter might be considered to end if they scut all necessary information to Mr Buckland, and rcquebted him to suggest tho kinds of fish he might consider most suitable. The Cjiajrmant thought that would be the most suitable initiatory step they could take. PHOU'KCTION OF SALMOX OVA. The following letter was received from Mr A. Cairns, Government Inspector of Works : " Referring to the letter received from Lon-> don recently in the newspapers as to a scheme for enclosing salmon ova in streams being easily protected frojn the voracious fish tribe, I drew the attention of Mr M'Kerrow, Chief Surveyor* who knows much as to the capabilities of ouv various rivers for this purpose, lie is of opinion the Akatore would suit admirably. Mr .Robert Gillies, he thinks, could afford better information than any one else in tho town in regard to it. I would beg to suggest that in the absence of him, being unable to speak positively on the point, 1 have no doubt wero Mr J. L. Gillies, of Tokomairiro, written to on the subject, he could obtain every information needful on so desirable a matter. This river has many branches, deriving their Bources in high elevations." After making arrangements for the col* lection of subscriptions, tjio H&eetiag asj*