SYDNEY’S AQUARIUM.

Otago Witness, Issue 3757, 16 March 1926, Page 17

SYDNEY’S AQUARIUM.

PLANNED FOR THE ZOO., SYDNEY, March 5. ' Melbourne has nad an aquarium for many years; Sydney has never been able to offer her citizens such a means of satisfying human curiosity. It was only in their last report that the Melbourne Aquarium Trust bewailed increasing losses of attendance, due, so it was stated, to the more thrilling attractions of the moving picture hall, theatre and dancing rendezvous. In fact, they reported a direct loss of several hundreds of pounds for an institution that was once remarkable for the profits it made, and the trustees spoke regretfully of a possible ! forced closure. It seemed that, in face of this adverse opinion, Sidney would f be forced to go to Melbourne to see fishe3 in captivity, but on the heels of the Melbourne • Aquarium authorities doleful-' report came an announcement from the trustees of Sydney’s splendid zoo, Taronga Park, that they intended to construct a wonderful habitation for marvels of the deep at a cost of £15,000. Plans are already being made to stock this quarium in a manner fitting to its own architectural beauty. A fishing expedition is being organised, and, as strange and beautiful denizens of the deep are the objects of the trip, those who participate in it should have an interesting time. A trawler will be sent on a cruise along the coast, and it is probable that Sydney Harbour will be trawhd for the first time in its history. Several men will bo sent to the Great Barrier Reef in search of beautiful coral fish, while others will be despatched to secure the gorgeously-coloured fish of Lord Howe Island and the Sandwich Islands. Re- 1 quests have, gone to Malay for specimens of the “fighting, fish” of those waters—a species of which the males, wheh they medt, try to dazzle opponents with brilliant changing colours before engaging in combat. Orders will also be sent to New Zealand for samples of the fish native to the waters of the dominion. ) It will be interesting to watch the result of Sydney’s newly-planned aquarium. If the trustees of the zoo are able to make it as profitable as thoy have/ already made the beautifully-situated pleusure ground by the harbour shore, the Melbourne Aquarium trustees are cer-, tain to turn green with envy. It would' be a feather in Sydney’s cap to find pro* fit where Melbourne is failing. v . .j