STEWART ISLAND.

Otago Witness, Issue 3313, 12 September 1917, Page 23

STEWART ISLAND.

September s—We have just been visited by a three days' easterly gale, which hais done not a little damage. The roads round the foreshores in both Halfmoon Bay and Horeshoe Bay have been badly knocked about, being, in places, completely washed out. In Horse Shoe Bay the wharf has been partially wrecked, and two boats were driven ashore. One of these, the Scow, was quite uninjured, but the Gauntlet was much more •unfortunate; her hull is very badly smashed. In Halfmoon Bay the butcher's shop, occupied by Mi M'Kellar, was damaged. The floor was lifted out and a cask of corned meat lost. Altogether the loss sustained! in roads, etc, will go well over £6OO. Further up the coast the owners- of the Murray River Sawmill suffered a heavy loss, their wharf, with some thousands of feet of timber, being completely destroyed. All this damage was caused, not so much by the mere strength of the gale, but by the fact that during the blow the tides were remarkably high spring tides. Thus at high water the sea raised by the wind touched the more vulnerable parts of the roads close to it.

The Fishing- Industry—This bad weather will just about .put an end to the fishing season for this year. Owing to the low price paid for the fish it is not worth the fishermen's while to carry on, and a number of tho best men are taking other work. This is not as it should be. The fishing industry could be extended to employ a very much larger number of men than it does to-day, and at the same time give the people of the country an increased food supply. Mr Ayson, the Inspector of Fisheries, has earned the thanks of all of us for his earnest efforts to effect an improvement; but he is, as it were, up against a stone wall. It really seems to bo an established rule that Government shall engage experts to advise them on certain matters on which they have no intention of taking advice. Both Professor Prince and Mr Ayson have done much, but so far their advice has fallen on deaf ears. The writer has no desire to pose as a severe critic, but so much time has already passed, so many half promises made, and so b'ttle has been done, that he feels that the time for smooth words has gone by The statement made by Mr Dickson with reference to tho Port Chalmers fishermen being "under the thumb" of the mddlemen was contradicted by Mr G'bbs. Such a statement concerning the Stewart Island fishermen could .not possibly be contradicted. A comparison with Dunedin prices is somewhat illuminatitifr. Dunedin: Groner 8s Id. red cod 5s 6d to 6s per dozen, ling 2s 6d to 33 each. Stewart Island: Groper Is 6d (under 121 b 9d). red cod thrown away, ling thrown away. More need not be said. But there are other edible fishes which are thrown away here.