H.—l4

10

There is one circumstance which I think is worthy of note. In a tray which I unpacked from Box 88 there were only 559 ova in the upper layer, thirty of which were bad ; and in the bottom layer there were 887 ova, only four of which were dead, the rest being absolutely free from speck or blemish. They were certainly the best layer of ova I ever had the pleasure of opening. The result is that I have placed in the hatching-boxes 38,443 fine healthy ova ; and if they only hatch out as they should, judging from present appearances, I shall be quite satisfied. I beg to enclose a detailed statement of the good ova in each box. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Marine, Abchd. N. Campbrll, Wellington. Curator, Southland Acclimatisation Society.

Detailed Statement of good Ova ex " Arawa"—received 13th March, 1889, at the Southland Acclimatisation Society's Wallacetown Fish Hatchery.

Total number of good ova, 38,443, equal to 87-39 per cent.

The Gukatob, Otago Acclimatisation Society, to the Assistant Seceetaey, Marine Department. Sie, — Otago Acclimatisation Society, Opolio, Dunedin, 6th April, 1889. With reference to the first shipment of salmon ova —that per s.s. " Arawa"—l beg to report that the 12th March I took delivery of eight boxes from on board that steamer at Port Chalmers. Acting on your own instructions, who was present, I had them carefully placed in a close van, packed with plenty of straw and ice, and brought on to Dunedin that night. Next morning they were conveyed by the south express to Clinton, where I removed five boxes, containing 96,900, with a supply of ice, to the Clinton ponds, yourself taking charge of the remaining three boxes to the Wallacetown ponds, Southland. The weather was most favourable for the purpose, being bitterly cold with showers of hail. I lost no time in having them conveyed to the hatchery, and commenced unpacking in the usual way, strict attention being paid to the temperature, and I am glad to say the result was most satisfactory, the average of bad ones being barely 5 per cent., and in many of the layers they only numbered from 25 to 50. Who could wish for better results than this ? They appered to have received every attention on board the " Arawa." They are now all hatched, and are a splendid sample of salmon alevins. The packing was simply perfection itself. The second shipment was by the s.s. " Aorangi," which arrived at Port Chalmers on the 29th March. This lot consisted of twenty-seven boxes, containing 481,650 salmon ova. The Eailway Department had two close vans in readiness to convey them to their respective destinations. A number of these boxes were packed in large insulating-cases on board the steamer. These cases would have been used in which to convey the ova to the hatcheries, but the close vans would not admit them, and open trucks would have had to have been resorted to, so I deemed it best and most expeditious to place the small boxes in the close vans with a plentiful supply of ice, as on former occasions; so I procured a large quantity of good straw, and placed the boxes on good, soft beds, packing them well round with straw and blocks of ice interspersed, and then conveyed them to Dunedin for the night. After refilling the ice-trays of the boxes for the south lat once removed ten boxes, containing 170,900 ova, to Opoho. Of the remaining seventeen boxes I packed seven, containing 128,800 ova, in one van for Wallacotown, and ten, containing 181,950, in another van for Clinton, Banger T3urt, who assisted me all along, taking charge of them, and accompanying them to Clinton by the south express next morning, where his van was shunted off, and the other went on to Invercargill. I commenced unpacking on the morning of the 30th March, and with the assistance of Mr. Carlton and others I had them all down by the evening of the Ist April. They were not in such good condition as the "Arawa" lot, and averaged about 62 per cent, good, some of the layers of ova being entirely bad, principally in the lower trays, the packing being exactly the same as in the other shipment, the bad eggs apparently having been dead a considerable length of time, as they

Trays. Layers. No. 1. No. 1. No. 2. No. 2. No. 3. | No. 3. No. 4. No. 4. Total. Box 90. J pper jower 920 860 815 810 889 795 912 933 819 799 815 825 852 832 „ 960 804 7,096 6,544 1,780 ! 1,625 1*, 684 1,731 1,732 1,640 1,684 1,764 13,640 Fpper iower 746 870 1004 980 529 883 Box 1008 911 '■8. 907 1036 949 937 ; 948 644 Empty Empty 6,091 6,261 1,616 1,984 1,412 ! 1,919 1,943 1,886 1,592 12,352 fpper iower 742 700 820 737 768 669 Box 8, 747 I 847 720 733 810 902 774 675 935 872 6,316 6,135 1,442 1,557 1,437 1,594 1,453 1,712 1,449 1,807 12,451