D.—No. 2.

28

PAPERS RELATIVE TO THE INTRODUCTION OP SALMON.

Extract from Letter appended. " The bed of the river in different places is composed of sand and shells, with cockle banks. The depth of water varies from twenty feet to about three. After heavy rains the river is quite brackish at low water for several tides, and continues so until the heavy rains are over." 14. Mataura River, Southland, at the Falls. —Observations taken by Hugh Cameron. " The bed of the river at this point and for three miles down is rocky, with breaks of shingle now and then. After that the bed is shingle all the way to the coast, the shingle getting finer as it nears the sea. The bed of the river above the falls is principally shingle also. The depth varies from about two feet to fifteen ; the average depth may be reckoned at about six or seven feet. The water of tho Mataura, previous to sluicing operations commencing at the Switzers Diggings, which are on a tributary to the Mataura, was clear and pure, but since then has become so thick and dirty as to become quite unfit for salmon to live in. As these diggings are likely to last some years, the Mataura is rendered useless for the, present as a salmon river. 15. Mataura River, at Aralussa. —Observations taken by Alexander McNeill. No notes. 16. Omutu River, at Blackwater. —No observer's name. —The Omutu creek runs amongst limestone downs, and is for four or five miles nearly parallel with the Purrapurrakino, which it ultimately joins. Its average width would be about eight or ten foot, and its depth about three. The bottom is coarse gravel; the banks steep and clothed with high flax and Korimiko, which shades the waters, and accounts in some measure for its coolness in summer. It is inhabited by numbers of aquatic insects and shells. Three or more species of small fish are plentiful. Eels are not very numerous. On the whole, the Omutu would make an excellent trout stream, if that forms any part of the Government scheme. Its only recommendation as a place for salmon-breeding is, that nearly the whole of it runs through three or four private properties occupied as sheep farms; the fish would therefore be less liable to be molested than in many other rivers which in other respects might seem more eligible. Map showing stream and place of observation, in red, appended. 17. Purrapurrakino River, at Blackwater. —No observer's name. —The Purrapurrakino takes it rise in the Largwood Ranges, and drains nearly the whole eastern face of them, as well as those wooded hills facing on the Aparima. Of its whole length, two-thirds, I should think, runs through forest. At the point where tho observations have been taken it is about seventy feet wide, its depth variable, the bottom consisting of coarse sand. The number of snags and dead trees fallen into and across the stream have formed pools and ridges, the former being ten or twelve feet deep. The water is clear and rather hard, and of a dark colour from dead leaves, &c. Two miles below this it is joined by the Omutu Creek, and is there a tidal river, navigable for small craft. About six miles further down it passes through a rocky gorge, and, forming the Aparima or Jacob's River at its estuary, flows into the sea at Riverton. About two miles above the point of observation it is a shallow rapid stream, its bottom being gravel and rock. The principal advantage of this river is its seclusion ; whilst, from its proximity to tho Aparima and Orete, it would ultimately stock both these rivers, which, though far finer streams in themselves, flow through a more populous district. I enclose herewith a map showing the stream and the place of observation marked in red. 18. Makarewa River, Southland, at. Woodburn. —Observer, Charles Caster. Memo. —Tho Makarewa is not a tidal river, but falls into the New River. The spot whore the observations have been taken is fifteen or twenty miles, by the windings, above the New River estuary; and there is a considerable body of water for a distance of ten or twelve miles above Woodburn, running through a partially wooded country. The river has a gravelly bed, with deep pools and shallows alternating, and loamy well-defined banks. Draining as it does a flat country, until it enters the flat hills twenty or more miles from its junction with the New River, it is not subject to such sudden and violent floods as most of the rivers in this country; neither is it fed by snow waters like the Arete and others. 19. Sea, of Napier. —Observations by the Provincial Engineer. Memo. —The temperature of deep water of Hawke's Bay appears to vary between 57° and 59°; and in the shallow places of the Ahuriri Lake between 56° and 65°. 20. Open Sea, off Opotiki. —Observer, Dr. Hector. Memo. —There appears to be a warm spot in the sea off Opotiki (67°). 21. Jackson's Bay, Cape Campbell, and Elaxbourne. —Observations taken by G. A. Woods, Marine Surveyor. 22. New River and Foveaux Straits. —Observer, Joshua Clare, Pilot. Memo. —The entrance of this river, and for two miles inwards, has a shifting sandy bottom, with from two and a half to four fathoms of water. In the upper part of the river the bottom is composed of shells and clay, with numerous cockle beds; the banks, which dry at the last quarter ebb, are covered with green seaweed. There are holes in this river that have a depth of three to four fathoms at low water. The shallowest part of the river has a depth of three feet at low water. The water is salt. The flood-tide runs from one and a half to three knots ; the ebb-tide from two and a half to four. The fish that frequent the river are the red cod, mullet, and flounder; the small fry are very plentiful in the summer months. Starling Point, Bluff Harbour. —Observer, Thomas Thomson, Harbour-master. Memo. —The observations on the temperature of the sea at Starling Point have been compared with that at several parts at Bluff Harbour, with no perceptible difference observable. The bottom of the Bluff estuary is principally composed of coarse gravel, sand, and shells ; there are also patches of soft loamy mud, portions of which are covered with grass. From the Bluff, round westward as far as New River, a distance of twelve miles, the shore is rocky; from thence to Jacob's River, eight or nine miles, there is a fine sandy beach. To the entrance of the Bluff, as far as the mouth of the Mataura River, a distance of seventeen or eighteen miles, the beach is composed of coarse gravel, sand, and shells, which is also the character of the bottom of Foveaux Straits adjacent to the Bluff.