D.—No. 7a

8

PAPERS RELATING TO SPECIAL

In each bay, with tolerable land in its vicinity, and shelter for anchorage of fishing smacks and and beaching of boats, I would recommend a village or township—consistent with its size—to be laid off in half-acre sections for the fishermen and their families to reside on, and supply garden produce —thus securing the principle of co-operation which is of more than ordinary importance in their calling—and outside this a belt of suburban sections of twenty or twenty-five acres, according to number], of each household; this area would be quite sufficient with careful culture to supply the respective households with wheat for bread, potatoes, and grass for a cow. The soil, from what I have seen of the cultivations presently on the Island, is good, and can always be renovated by the best manure—fish refuse and seaweed—without cost, further than the labor of collecting and putting it on the ground. Such a free grant of land, while it secures to provident industry a sufficiency, will not prove a lure to idleness. Fisheries. —To experienced thrift the fisheries around Stewart's Island promise not only comfortable subsistence but wealth. The occupation has hitherto been carried on in a desultory manner by a few residents, most of whom, partly from imperfect knowledge, partly from inadequate means, have been incapacitated from properly cultivating the rich field at their disposal; that they have been able to subsist at all, support their families, and in one or two cases make money, with the disadvantages they have laboured under, is the best evidence that the undertaking could be conducted to a most successful issue by men whose lifetraining has rendered them adepts at the occupation, masters of the position. The fishing has been pursued entirely with set nets and fishing-lines. The bays and harbors are, during the summer months, frequented by shoals of Trumpeter and Moki, both fish of rare excellence; the latter will not take a bait, and can only be caught with nets laid in the shallow waters along the edges of the bays, and kelp beds inside them; these nets could be laid down with ease by the wives or children of tbe fisherman, any weather. I have frequently assisted in placing them in Port William, and in two or three hours caught from fifteen to twenty Moki and Trumpeter—averaging in weight sibs.—'to each net. The Blue Cod, a fair fish when green, and one that cures splendidly, though caught in the bays is found in largest numbers all along the north and east coast of the Island, from Rugged Point to Wilson Bay. The sea, looking through its clear pellucid waters, appears to literally swarm with them off Smokey Cave and other favorite localities. I have seen them pulled up with lines three or four to each, as rapidly as the baits could be fixed and let down. I believe four good fishermen could fill a whaleboat in three or four hours at any of these spots without moving. The Groper, a lordly fish, is also largely caught with the hook on its favourite banks off the the same coast, and in the vicinity of Mason Bay. The head and shoulders of this fish, boiled, equals the best home Cod, and smoked or salted is excellent; it is of such size, and its flesh so firm and compact, it can be cut and cooked like beef steak. The White Cod also abounds, which, though from want of firmness does not eat well green, is good dried and smoked. These, with Barracoota, which cures well, and is of size, may be considered the staple fish of the Island; but I have no doubt when the trawl net is substituted for the present imperfect fishing gear, new and good varieties will be discovered in the straits and vicinity of the Island. There is every evidence that the supply of fish, most of very superior quality, is inexhaustible, and and as I have already stated, no season appears to affect it. Although the bays are partially deserted in the winter, by their inhabitants seeking the deeper water round the coast for warmth, any fish which takes the bait can be caught as readily, and as numerously in the middle of winter or summer. " Curing" is in its earliest infancy. No one of training or experience has hitherto been engaged in this branch of the business; but the attempts, though imperfect from ignorance and defective appliances, have been sufficient to determine the practicability of establishing a great and lucrative industry. There is abundance of timber in each bay for buildings, smoking the fish, making barrels for exporting the salt fish, and all the utensils appertaining to the trade. Vessels of any tonnage can bo built on the Island. Spars of size can be obtained with ease and in quantity, particularly from Port Pegasus, as also naturally formed knees and ribs, of one of the toughest known woods, the Rata or Ironwood, which clothes the shores of Ports Adventure, Pegasiis and Lord's river in great luxuriance; while nature has supplied any number of dock-yards in the numerous sheltered coves scattered throughout the various harbors. "Tinning Fish" for export ought, with moderately paid labor, to pay well. The Moki and Trumpeter in excellence of flavour would rival the preserved Salmon, so largely imported into the Australian colonies, and with the Groper certainly surpass the American tinned fish, besides possessing the advantage of freshness. I have tasted some prepared in this manner as an experiment, by an amateur, so palatable that I feel sure it would prove a great success in experienced hands ; while the Crayfish which is of large size and abundant in all the bays, fully equals, when tinned, the imported Lobsters, and can be caught easily in any quantity.