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No. 73. Mr. G. S. Cooper to Mr. Blakiston. (Telegram.) Government Buildings, Wellington, 2nd June, 1873. What quantity of salmon ova has been hatched out in Canterbury up to the present time ? Reply soon. C. R. Blakiston, Esq., Christchurch. G. S. Cooper.

No. 74. Mr. G. S. Cooper to Mr. Butts. (Telegram.) Government Buildings, Wellington, 2nd June, 1873. What quantity of salmon ova has been hatched out in Southland up to the present time ? Reply soon. E. D. Butts, Esq., Invercargill. G. S. Cooper.

No. 75. Mr. Blakiston to Mr. G. S. Cooper. (Telegram.) Christchurch, 2nd June, 1873. About sixty salmon ova hatched out here at date. G. S. Cooper, Esq., Under Secretary, Wellington. C. R. Blakiston.

No. 76. Mr. Butts to Mr. G. S. Cooper. (Telegram.) Invercargill, 2nd June, 1873. Last report from ponds, Friday night. Over 600 hatched ; a few more expected. Colonial Under Secretary, Wellington. E. D. Butts.

No. 77. The Agent-General to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. 7, Westminster Chambers, Victoria Street, Westminster, S.W., Sir,— 16th May, 1873. I have the honor to acknowledge receipt of your letter of 15th March (73, 884), on the subject of the shipment of salmon ova to New Zealand by the " Oberon," and pointing out that I am in error in supposing that the sum at my disposal was only £800, instead of £900, as originally stated. I observe that you make up the sum which you state was available in the following manner, viz.:—General Assembly appropriation, £500; Invercargill Acclimatization Society, £300; Christchurch, £100 : total, £900. On reference, however, to the letter from the Honorary Secretary of the Southland Acclimatization Society (14th November, 1871), a copy of which was forwarded by me in the Hon. Mr. Gisborne's despatch of 13th March, 1872 (No. 30), you will find that the guarantee of £300 by that Society was conditional. The resolution passed by the Committee of the Society was to the following effect: —" This Society is prepared to guarantee the sum of £300 for the purpose of sending home, by the next outgoing mail, for a shipment of ova, trusting to the other Societies to recoup us their proportions of that amount. This is done with a view of expediting the matter." The Canterbury Acclimatization Society having afterwards agreed to contribute £100, the guarantee of the Southland Acclimatization Society would of course be reduced by that amount. It will therefore be seen that I was right in concluding that the sum actually at my disposal (exclusive of the General Assembly grant of £500) was only £300. However, the matter is of very little consequence, for, as I have already reported, the actual expenditure fell far short of the amount authorized, leaving a balance of £100 at the further disposal of the Government. In connection with this subject, it will, I am sure, be satisfactory to the Government to learn that an experiment made by Mr. Y'oul to test the vitality of the ova after 108 days' packing in ice at the Wenham Lake Ice Company's stores here, has proved entirely successful. The ova thus experimented on was taken from the boxes shipped by the " Oberon "Jo New Zealand; and, as will be seen from the two letters from Mr. Youl appended hereto, the result promises very fairly for the success of our shipment. I was present with a number of other gentlemen at the opening of the boxes on Friday, the 2nd instant, an interesting account of which I have clipped from the European Mail, and beg to forward herewith. I have, &c, I. E. Featherston, The Hon. the Colonial Secretary, Wellington, N.Z. Agent-General. 4—H. 12