D.—No. 2

20

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE INTRODUCTION

on the distinct understanding that they were a public and not a private charge, and that the future disposition of their produce should be under the control of the Commissioners. The Commissioners conceive that from a centre such as that now established at Strathmore, when fully stocked, the other rivers of the north may be stocked much more conveniently and inexpensively, and with less waste of ova, than from the ponds at the Plenty. In the meantime, and until this source becomes productive, the Commissioners will be prepared, to the utmost of their ability, to furnish the supplies for other approved localities, as well in the north as in the south, where they are assured that adequate means for the due hatching of the ova and the preservation of their produce have been provided. During the ensuing summer the Commissioners propose to place a small body of young trout in the North-west Bay River, which has all the attributes of a fine trout stream, and to which they can be conveyed by water with facility and safety. Since the date of their last Report, the Commissioners have made several inexpensive improvements in. the establishment at the Plenty, of which the most important have been the completion of the small pond therein referred to, and the formation of a new rill, rendered necessary by the addition of the salmon-trout to their charge. During the ensuing summer some further extensions of the same kind will be required. Although the water-bailiff stationed at Prince of Wales Bay has been indefatigable in his endeavours to prevent poaching, there is reason to believe that during the past year the law has in some instances been violated; and the Commissioners are of Opinion that it will be necessary, for the due protection of the salmon, at no distant date to appoint an additional bailiff. The temptation to poaching has become greatly augmented by the vast increase that has taken place in the number of small fish that now swarm in the Derwent between New Norfolk and Hobart Town, due to the protection afforded to them by the operation of " The Salmon Act." And tho prohibition of all fishing in this part of the river is not more necessary for the safety of the salmon than it is conducive to the real interests of the fishermen of the Derwent. That portion of the river which lies between. Bridgowater and Hobart Town is the natural nursery in which various kinds of fish, usually inhabiting the deeper water below, deposit their spawn, and from which their numbers are recruited from year to year. The meshes of the nets used by the fishermen are so minute that the fish of the very smallest size are captured and destroyed, and are thus effectually prevented from descending into the deeper water below the city, where they would speedily attain, a far greater size and value. The breeding establishment at the Plenty has from its first erection been an object of great interest and attraction, yearly increasing, not only to the public of Tasmania, but to visitors from all the adjoining Colonies. The Commissioners trust that, at no distant period, they will be able to calculate the time when the existing attractions may be increased by granting permission to use the rod and line. At the request of the Commissioners, the Government instructed the Surveyor-General to cause a drawing and plan of the salmon ponds to be preparetl; and this work has been admirably performed by some of the officers of the department, the survey having been executed by Mr. Morrison, and tho drawing by Mr. Piguenot. The former it is proposed to hang in some public place for general inspection. Of the latter a considerable number of excellent lithographs have been executed under the direction of the Surveyor-General, which will be generally circulated, and will afford information respecting the plan and construction of the whole breeding establishment, which have long been sought for, ne>t only by the people of this and the adjoining Colonies, but by many eminint pisciculturists in England, who have been watching with much interest the progress of our enterprise. Robert Officer, Chairman.

No. 7. Copy of a Letter from Mr. T. Black to the Hon. E. W. Stafford. Acclimatization Society's Office, Sir, — Melbourne, 6th February, 1868. I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of the 3rd ultimo, requesting information as to the best means to be adopted for introducing salmon, &a In reply, I beg to inform you, that I immediately wrote to Dr. Officer, the Chairman of the Tasmanian Salmon Commissioners, requesting him to furnish me with copies of the Reports published by the Commissioners. These Reports I now have the honor to enclose with a copy of Dr. Officer's letter. It may, perhaps, be well to remind you, that a shipment of salmon and trout ova for the Government of Otago is now on its way from London to Dunedin, and His Honor the Superintendent of that Province can doubtlessly furnish you with any further details, if such be rc([uired. I have, &o, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, TnoMAS Black, Wellington. President.

Enclosure in No. 7. Copy of a Letter from Dr. Officer to the Secretary of the Victorian Acclimatization Society. Sir,— . New Norfolk, 28th January, 186 S. In compliance with the reepest contained in your letter of the 20th instant, I have instructed the Clerk of the House of Assembly to forward to you copies of the various Reports of the Salmon Commissioners by the first mail, but I have some doubt whether one of them is not out of print. I may mention to you that the same request that has been made to your Society has been preferred to