H.—3

6

Enclosure. The Cubatoe, Southland Acclimatization Society, to the Commissionee of Trade and Customs. Sib,— Southland Acclimatization Society, Invercargill, 20th August, 1886. I have much pleasure in furnishing you with the final result from the box of salmon-ova ex " Ionic," received by me at Dunedin from Mr. Parr on the 23rd March. Next day, on arrival at Invercargill, I drove to Wallacetown, eight miles, with the ova, and, having placed all the ice I had in one of the hatching-boxes, removed the trays containing the ova from the box and placed ihem in the water below the ice, where they remained all night. This would gradually bring the ova to the temperature of the water, which always stands at 50° in the hottest day of summer or the coldest of winter. Next day, the 25th March, with the kind and valuable assistance of Mr. Howard, I unpacked the ova. We carefully counted all the good ova, and placed in the boxes 14,500. Of these 12,656 hatched out. The packing of the ova was all that could be wished for, with one exception, and to that I would beg to call your attention. In each tray there were three layers of ova, with moss intervening, and in each layer about 1,200 ova. The two upper layers turned out splendidly, fully 95 per cent, being good; but in the lowest layer in every tray the ova was in a very bad condition, in some trays not 10 per cent, in the bottom layer being good. If there had been only two layers of ova in each tray of the box I received, I am certain there would have been 95 per cent, of good ova. The impregnation of the ova was perfect, not near 6 per cent, being unimpregnated. There were only 150 deformed fish in the lot, which is a very small number. After hatching, a much greater number of fish died than I had expected, a great many of them from dropsical swelling, and the rest from what I can only describe as lack of constitution. They simply pined away, and, even after the umbilical sac was absorbed, a number never attempted to feed, and ultimately died. I can only account for this by the supposition that the box was exposed to too great a degree of cold on the voyage —not enough to destroy vitality, but sufficient to fatally impair the constitution of the young fish. The first of the alevins were hatched on the 27th March, and the last on the 13th April. I commenced feeding on the 12th May with water-fleas, for which the fish were very keen ; but, as I could not procure enough of them, I had to supplement the fleas with raw liver. On this diet all the healthy fish throve remarkably well. I regret to say that, owing to the sudden melting of nine inches of snow during the night of the 27th June, the spring which supplies the boxes was backed up so as to flood the boxes, and about 3,000 fish escaped. These fish are not lost, however, as they are in an excellent nursery, and will eventually make their way into the New Eiver. It is only a matter of regret insomuch as I should have much preferred to have turned all into one river. On the 9th July I turned out 3,000 in the Aparima without any loss, and on the 16th July 2,500 in the same river. The following is a condensed statement of the result :— Deaths during hatching ... ... ... ... ... ... 1,844 Deaths after hatching ... ... ... ... ... ... 4,081 Turned out in Aparima ... ... ... ... ... ... 5,500 Escaped from boxes ... ... ... ... ... ... 3,075 Ova placed in boxes ... ... ... ... 14,500 In conclusion, permit me to state that I am convinced that the Government have adopted the best and cheapest means of procuring salmon-ova —namely, purchasing eyed ova from Howietoun Fishery. I trust the Government will continue to get yearly shipments of ova on the same system, for I will never be satisfied that salmon will not succeed here until I have turned out a large number of healthy fish in the same river for a series of years. I have, &c, Akohd. N. Campbell, The Hon. the Commissioner of Trade and Customs, Wellington. Curator.

Hatching of Salmon-ova ex "Ionic" at Wallacetown Ponds, Southland. (Temperature of water always stands at 50°.)

Date. Dead Ova. Date. Dead Fish. Date. Dead Fish. Date. Dead Fish. 1886. larch 26 „ 27 „ 28 „ 29 „ 30 . 31 ,pril 1 2 "„ 3 4 5 • 6 „ 7 . 8 „ 9 428 260 266 296 90 89 32 32 30 24 13 24 25 22 26 1886. April 10 „ 11 „ 12 „ 13 „ 14* „ 15 „ 16 „ 17 „ 18 „ 19 „ 20 „ 21 „ 22 „ 23 „ 24 23 42 48 74 121 36 105 89 100 47 63 32 52 61 46 1880. April 25 „ 26 „ 27 „ 28 „ 29 „ 30 May 1 „ 2 3 4 „ 5 „ 6 „ 7 8 9 50 46 57 60 56 60 90 108 73 51 81 46 51 80 88 1886. May 10 „ 11 „ 12 „ 13 „ 14 „ 15 „ 16 „ 17 „ 18 „ 19 „ 20 „ 21 „ 22 „ 23 „ 24 62 87 93 86 95 120 132 102 98 72 43 42 48 43 40 * Afti ;his de at deaths in fish li.