OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY

Otago Witness, Issue 2286, 23 December 1897, Page 41

OTAGO ACCLIMATISATION SOCIETY

Th<s regular meeting of the Otago Accliman ti.iation Society's Council was held on th 14th inst., and was attended by Messrs J. P. Maitland (chftirmau), R. Chiaholm, T. Browu, S. Goldsmith, R. Forrest, . Sinclair Thomson, Manager Deans, and Secretary Rassell. ' , Manager Deans submitted the following report for December :— - • I beg to report that the majority of the fry are now liberated, the numbers bein^c as follows :— Scotch burn, 116,003 r Loch. Leven; 29,000 ; brown, 74,000; and American brook trout, 27,000. In. addition to these 10t5,. 4000 brook trout and 3000 Scotch burn' trout have been, forwarded to th« Waima-te Society, ' and, to-day 5000 brown trout have been forwarded to the, Oamaru Society : making a total of 253,000. I sent 1000 each of Loch Leven, Scotch burn, and brook trout to MrBaylea, UppetNovie. and that gentleman deierves credit for having liberated then) with -very little loss, considering the difficulty of the under, taking; The rivers. and creeks were in high flood, and the roads weve bo bad -that the fish had to be packed on horses. Arrangements had beau completed for handing over to the Southland Society 1000 salmon fry and 300 yearlings, the latter being part of the Kaikoura shipment, but on account of the Ilooilud state of lhe country this had to be deferred, as aUo had the handing over to the .same society of COOO yearling salmon from our stock fish. I may state that on ertiptying the pond in which were placed some 1900 salmon fry of the Kaikoura lot only 700 were fouud, showing that a decre;v?o of 1200 had takeu placa since last April. In a few days I will be emptying- the pond containing the yearlings from the stock salmon, when the discrepancy in these will bft ascertained. lam pleased to state that in almost aM the creeks I have visited I found abundance of young fi»h, principally yearliugs, and in some instances strong and healthy fry. There aro about 700 fry of the rainbow trout which I think ought to be liberated now in some of the warmest of the streams. I have not seen, or heard anything of the 1500 of these fish that were liberated in the Waipahi about two years ago.

The report was received, and it was decided to k«ep tho 700 rAiobow troub until they became yearlings. Mr W. S. Pillans wrote reiigniog his seat in the council on account of his going to the Home country, and offered his services while there. Ho recommended that Mr A. B. Farquhar be appointed in his p:lae*. — The resignation was received with regret, and it was "resolved to accept Mr Pillans's offer to act whilo in the old country if his servicaa wsra required. While quit© recognising Mr Fafquhar's eminent; suitability for a position on the council, tho meeting thought it would be' better if the recommendation came from the executive, and the matter was left ovec on the understanding that the executive would m*ke the recommendation accordingly. The Obago Anglers' Association wrote mfcimatingthatthey had passed thefollowiDg resolution :— " That the Obago Acclimatisation Society be requested to urge upon the Government the necessity of eliminating from the Fisheries Bill proposed to be introduced the laet paragraph of section 8 (general regulations), recommended by the conference of delegates from varion* acclimatisation societies held in Wellington ia September last, as in the opinion of the association it offered a premium for illegal fishiug, and made a conviction for such an offence next to impossible." — Mr Chisholh pointed out that the Fisheries Bill proposed by Government did not include the paragraph r*ferred to, and there was therefore no neceß»ity to take any action in the matter. Mr Bhown brought under the notice of the meeting that the prevailing idea that hawk« were protected was erroneous, as he bad it from the authorities at Wellington that tkp protection had never existed. ' A report was received from Constable Warring concerning netting at the mouth O,E the Waikouaiti River. — It was resolved that tha writer be thanked for his action and letter, an,* that tke matter bo referred to tha executive. A package containing 50,000 lire, forwarded from the Bank oE Sicily, at Palermo, to tha' Bank of Naples, disappeared during the journey. Me William Evans, ion of a resident a* Ofcapiri, Southland, has pmed his final examination in medicine in London. He took two years at the Otago University. Two and. a-half years ago he went Home to complete his^; coarie in London, with the result that ho isj now entitled to affix to hU name the letters' M.R.C.S. aud L.R.C.P.