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No. 34. Mr. R. J. Creighton to the Hon. the Colonial Secretary. Sir, — San Francisco, California, 18th February, 1878. I enclose herewith letter from Mr. Clark, Michigan, relative to the shipment of whitfish eggs per City of Sydney, for New Zealand. From it I gather that the charge for the eggs and packing, as per Professor Baird's letter, will be 500d015., at Idol, per thousand, which amount you will be good enough to cause to be forwarded to Mr. Clark. I hope the consignment arrived in good order, and has been hatched out and distributed successfully. Whitefish is more highly esteemed than salmon where it is known. It is difficult to acclimatise it, but should the colony succeed, it will add a valuable food fish to its other attractions for settlement, and solve a difficult problem for scientists. Professor Baird has written to me for the history of salmon acclimatisation in New Zealand, so far as the Californian salmon is concerned, and I was only able to make a very fragmentary report in relation to the last shipment. He is solicitous of obtaining full information for his annual report to Congress, and lays great stress upon the New Zealand experiments, similar shipments to Germany having entirely failed. I have, therefore, to request that you will cause a report to be forwarded to me, supplemental to that made by me, showing the date of arrival of the eggs at the several ports of the colony ; by what conveyance, and the time occupied in transhipping and handling them ; how packed during coasting voyage ; proportion of eggs hatched out in each province, and how the young fish were distributed. I approximated the time on the coasting voyage, but I was ignorant of the success, if any, except in Auckland, the newspapers of which contained a general statement that the eggs distributed by Mr. Firth had hatched out. I trust this information will be supplied by return mail. It may not be too late for Professor Baird's report, and will complete my, otherwise, imperfect one. I observe by the London Times, that Sir Julius Vogel sent out a consignment of salmon ova from England, per steamer Chimborazo, via Melbourne. The result of this experiment will be of great interest to the United States Fish Commission, and to the California State Fish Commission, to both of which New Zealand is under great and lasting obligations. I would, therefore, esteem it a favor if you would advise me, in due course, of the success had in introducing British salmon, and the relative cost of the two sources of acclimatisation. As the Sacramento salmon may now be said to be introduced permanently into New Zealand, details regarding its habits, &c, will be interesting and of value to the colony. I therefore append extracts from the Biennial Report of the California Fisheries Commissioners, presented to the State Legislature recently, bearing upon the point. It will be seen that it possesses many special advantages over the British salmon, and for commercial and food purposes is decidedly superior. On economic grounds alone, the acclimatisation of this excellent food fish is an event of very great importance. I likewise extract the passages relating to whitefish and catfish, (the latter introduced, I understand, by Mr. Thomas Russell, C.M.G.) I have, &c, R. J. Creighton.

Enclosure to No. 34. Extract from Biennial Report of the California State Fisheries Commissioners, 1876-77. Salmon (Salmo QuinnatJ. 1. Before the discovery of the gold mines in California, nearly all of the tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin rivers were the spawning beds of the salmon. Soon after mining commenced the sediment deposited by gold washing covered the gravel bottoms of the streams. The fish found no proper place on which to deposit its eggs, and after three or four years became extinct in those tributaries. The instinct of the fish leads it to return from the ocean to the stream in which it was born for purposes of reproduction. If this place, for any reason, is rendered unfit, it will not seek a new and appropriate place. In 1850 the salmon resorted in vast numbers to the Feather, Yuba, American, Mokolunrne, and Tuolumne rivers for purposes of spawning, and many places, such as Salmon Falls, on the American, were named from the abundance of these fish. On the Yuba river, as late as 1853., the miners obtained a large supply of food from this source. At the present time no salmon enter these streams. It would be safe to estimate that one-half the streams in this State to which salmon formerly resorted for spawning, have, for this purpose, been destroyed by mining. As mining is the more important industry, of course, for this evil there is no remedy, other than by artificial means to increase the supply 7 in those tributaries that are still the resort of these fish. Tire principal spawning grounds remaining, are the McC'loud, Klamath, Little Sacramento, and Pit rivers in the northern part of the State, and the San Joaquin and Merced in the southern. The short streams entering into the ocean from the Coast Range of mountains from Point Conception, in latitude 34° 20' north to the boundary of Oregon, are also spawning grounds for salmon. The fish of the coast streams deposit their eggs in January and February, during the winter rains, when the streams are full, while the salmon of the tributaries of the Sacramento and San Joaquin spawn in August and September, when the water is at its lowest stage. The salmon of the short coast rivers do not average"as large as the Sacramento salmon, but they are probably the same fish with habits modified to suit the streams to which they resort. 2. The salmo quinnat readily adapts itself to a life in fresh water, and reproduces its kind where it has no opportunity to go to the ocean. When the dams were constructed on the small streams that go to make the reservoirs of San Andreas and Pillarcitos—which supply the City of San Francisco with water —as also when the dam was constructed on the San Leandro, to supply the City of Oakland, the young of the salmon that had spawned the year previous to the erection of these clams, remained in the