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boundary, and the other half within the United States boundary. With such estimates and comparisons before us there is every ground for being optimistic in regard to the future of New Zealand fisheries. Their extent and possibilities have not been adequately realized. Fisheries are a National Asset. A mistaken view which is not uncommon in New Zealand, as in other countries, regarding fish resources lies in the assumption that the marine and Eresh-water fisheries in local waters are the peculiar possession of the community living in thai area. Fishermen and fish-merchants too often take this limited view, and resident anglers and sportsmen are prone to share in the same parochial feeling. I am familiar in Canada with this same mistaken view, though, thanks to the spread of Government reports and of enlightening information, the view is now largely a thing of the past. At one time, for instance, Nova Scotia fishermen regarded the lobsters in their own localities as their special property, and raised objection to taking protective measures, such as close seasons, &c, declaring that they wanted no such restrictions, and that if the lobsters w r ere depleted it was " their own lookout." The fishermen were wont to reply to the argument —that unless protective law s were devised the lobsters would become depleted—by saving. " The lobsters are our fish, and if we destroy them it is no one's concern hut ours." It was pointed out that Mont real, Ottawa, and even a distant city like Winnipeg, situated many thousand miles from the lobster-grounds, had a right to claim an interest In the lobster resources, and to insist that, being a national food-supply, the Federal Government was in fluty bound to maintain the lobster resources of the country. The fishing population now have generally adopted the view that all Canada has a right to dictate how her fisheries or. indeed, any other national resource of land or water shall be treated. Dominion control is the only effective control, both for the whole country and for the local residents directly concerned. It has not been unusual lor sportsmen in certain localities to argue that the rivers and their finny inhabitants were a local possession, in which New Zealand as a whole had no direct concern. Such parochialism involves a great danger: but it is not a danger confined to fisheries. I observed at a recent Farmers" Union conference in Wellington that representatives of the whole Dominion protested against this tendency to consider only narrow local interests, and one prominent speaker protested against making the conference develop into "' a glorified provincial conference instead of a Dominion conference," and it was insisted that important questions should not be approached from a narrow provincial standpoint. 1 observed a similar protest voiced in parliamentary debate recently when the subject of education was under discussion, and it was emphatically declared in the House of Representatives that local interests should be subordinated in such an important matter, and parochial views should be deprecated. Higb Cost' ok Living and Cheap Fish. Fish in New Zealand is. in my opinion, high-priced. It should he cheaper, and thus encourage a vastly increased demand. Everywhere I find that my opinion is supported by intelligent citizens, with the exception of a few persons who still cling to the antiquated view that small supplies and high prices for fish products yield greater profits to those engaged in the fisheries. My opinion is that fish can be cheapened, to the benefit of all in lie' industry and to the great benefit of the public at large. Fish forms a good nutritious food and a popular food, and it should be a cheap food, because the finny tribes in the sea propagate and feed themselves, and are ready to be secured lor the market without any trouble, care, or expense on the part of man wholly unlike sheep and cattle, which demand infinite care and expense before they are ready for market. Yet it is a remarkable fact that this fish-food product provided free of cost by bountiful nature is as expensive as, usually more expensive than, beef and mutton. One correspondent wrote to me recently that the price of sea-fish at the present time is exorbitant. If the fishermen have a good haul, great quantities ate consigned back to the briny ocean in order to keep up the price of this iish in the local markets. Many reasons are urged lor the prevailing high price of lish. Some blame the method of sale. As one fisherman in a printed letter stated, " Our catching-price for hapuka Or groper is Is. sd. per lish irrespective of weight, and as the average run of this lish is 20 lb. or 30 lb., we do not get 2d. per pound from the dealers. If this lish v ere paid by weight and we got Id. per pound for t hem we would be better satisfied." A prominent fish-dealer admits the rise in price. He says it is due to the fact that fishermen neglect the catching of blue cod. buttorlish. &c.. because hapuka and groper are plentiful and pay them better than any other fish. The neglected fish are consequently higher in price. It is claimed that Cook Strait fishermen will not catch blue end and earn only £8 to £10 when they can with less trouble go out ten or twelve miles from Wellington Harbour and catch a hundred and fifty hapuka and earn over t2O. Whatever the real reason may he. the price of lish to the public could, without loss to fishermen or dealers, be made far more reasonable : and I do not hesitate to say that one great reason lor the high price is the fact that the catches are not always utilized or marketed, and there is consequently a great waste of fish. Characteristic Features of the Pishes of New Zealand. A survey of the fisheries of New Zealand and of the various important species inhabiting the Dominion waters emphasizes the contrast bet w cell the SOUI hern iish and fisheries and t hose of the north. especially the great fisheries of the North Atlantic. The various kinds of lish most abundant in New Zealand waters recall the species familiar iii the markets of southern Europe. The great abundance of the spiny-finned fishes corresponds with the food fishes found off the Spanish and north African coast and along the shores of the Mediterranean. There is little resemblance between these fishes and those of the northern waters, such as the Canadian. British, or Norwegian fisheries. The most