NEW ZEALAND FISHERIES.

Wellington Independent, Volume XXVI, Issue 3118, 8 February 1871, Page 3

NEW ZEALAND FISHERIES.

A committee was appointed by the Provincial Council of Auckland lately to report upon the fisheries of the province, .and the amount of encouragement to be afforded them. One of the local papers, in a leading article, summarises some of the evidence taken before the committee, o We make the following extracts from the article in question : — From the evidence taken, and coming from persons heretofore engaged in the American fisheries such evidence carries the weight •of authority with it, we learn that the fisheries on the coast of New Zealand, and notably of the northern portion of this province, are superior both to those of America and Newfoundland, and tbis statement was unhesitatingly made by a gentleman who for seventeen years was engaged on the North American fisheries, and who for some few years past has had practical acquaintance with our own. Not only are fish more abundant here, but the quality is superior. Another person of similar experience, and a master mariner, giving evidence, stated that on a voyage to the Mauritius he took for the ship's use both cod and schnapper cured as cod, and that he found the latter more profitable for use, as while the codfish became broken before it could be used, the schnapper kept remarkably well, and was firm when cooked." The climate, too, of this province, it was stated, is far more suitable L/jfor the curing of fish than is that of " America; and Mr M'Leod stated that even in January last — the most unsuitable month of the whole year for fishcuring—of nineteen hundred schnapper, ' tnkon in one haul in a seine net by himself, at Wninpu, he did not loose a single fish in the process. ... In Bata■via, where the demand would, perhaps, be larger than anywhere else, a couple

°f cwt. of New Zealand cured fish, taken as a trial sale, were greedily bought up ; and, as we privately learn, the master of the vessel was continually teased to part with the portion reserved by him for the ship's use. In tbe North American fisheries it was stated by Kfr M'Leod that 12s 6d per cwt. was the price paid for the cured codfish to the fishermen, and that he saw no reason why the same price should not prove remunerative here. With such evidence as they had to go upon, we are not surprised to find that the committee have reported most favorably on the advisability of encouraging this very important local industry, and that they have recommended that £400 be voted for the current year to provide a bounty of 4s per cwt. on cured fish exported from this province. It has also, we see, recommended that all boats engaged in the fishing trade should be relieved from all pilot, harbor, wharf, and light dues, and, if possible, from the duty on cordage and the usual appliances for taking and curing fish.