15

H.—ls

Kaipara. —The Inspector reports an improvement in the quantity of fish caught in comparison with the previous year. Mullet have been particularly plentiful, and flounder have been caught in larger quantities than for several years. The number of boats engaged in fishing is 27, employing 45 fishermen. The quantity of fish brought in from the local fishing-grounds was 8,220 cwt. ; value. £9,736. The fish-canning factory at Heleusville packed 980 cwt. of mullet, valued at £1,062. Tauranga. —The number of boats licensed for fishing during the year was 29. A number of these are pleasure-fishing excursion launches, and the owners license their boats so that they can sell their surplus fish. There are 20 men engaged in fishing. The quantity of fish brought in is given approximately at 120 cwt.; wholesale value, about £250. Gis/iorne. —Fishing here is much the same as in past years, but is greatly hampered through the scarcity of benzine, coal, and high price of nets and twine. There are 24 boats and 2 steam trawlers fishing, employing 51 men. The fish taken are tarakihi, snapper, gurnard, sole, and flounder, and the quantity brought in during the year was 2,169 cwt.; value, £5,160. Napwr. —The Inspector reports that there has been a marked improvement in the catches this year as compared with the previous one, owing principally to the favourable weather experienced generally through the year, which allowed the vessels to work without much interruption. The westerly weather experienced during the summer months was very favourable for flat fish, and although at no time were there any exceptional catches, yet the fishing was very regular. Summarized, the last year's result can be considered a very good one and much above the average of recent years. At times when fish have been plentiful and conditions favourable for trawling coal has been unprocurable, thereby affecting the returns. The number of trawlers engaged in trawling was 9, employing 40 men; also 20 oil-launches, employing 40 men, and 44 row-boats, with 60 men. The following is a return of the quantity and value of lish taken-. 5,457 cwt. flat fish (valued at £2 10s. per hundredweight), £13,642 10s.; 11,915 cwt. round fish (valued at £1 ss. per hundredweight), £14,893 155.; 12,0001b. whitebait (valued at 2s. 6d. per pound), £1,500; 450 sacks crayfish (valued at £1 10s. per sack), £675; 300 sacks cockles and pippics (valued at 15s. per sack), £225 : total, £30,936 ss. New Plymouth. —The most of the fish required to supply the town and district comes from Auckland. The coast of Taranaki is so exposed for the small vessels used by the local fishermen that the retailers cannot rely on getting the supplies they need from them. The number of boats licensed for fishing was 34, employing 58 men. The majority of the men are partially employed at other work and only fish occasionally. The Collector of Customs, who supplies the report, estimates the quantity of fish brought in by local boats at 200 cwt.; value, about £175. Wanganui. —Blue cod, hapuku, snapper, flounder, kahawai, mullet, barracouta, and gurnard are the fish caught on the local fishing-grounds. There are 17 boats engaged in fishing, employing 18 men. The quantity of fish brought in during the year was 357 cwt.; value, £850 10s. Foxton. —The principal fish taken are flounder, snapper, and whitebait. Thirteen row-boats for river fishing and one launch were licensed, employing 20 fishermen part of the year. The quantity of fish caught was about 200 cwt. (principally flounder and whitebait), valued at about £560. Wellington District. —The local Inspector, who visited all the fishing-stations in the district during the year, reports an increase in the quantity and value of fish brought in from the local fishing-grounds, and also an increase in the number of boats and men engaged in fishing. The Cook Strait fishermen lost a considerable amount of time on account of stormy weather. Fishermen complain of the difficulty in obtaining, and the high cost of, benzine, nets, rope, twine, &c, which hinders fishing operations, lessens their earnings and the quantity of fish brought in. Fish generally have been fairly plentiful. The warehou season was a particularly good one, and many big catches were made in the bays round Wellington. The number of launches licensed and engaged in fishing was 85 and 1 steam trawler. The number of men engaged in fishing was 221, and 134 were employed in other ways in connection with the industry. The total weight of all kinds of fish brought in is given at 17,100 cwt., valued at £23,940. Picton. —The number of boats engaged in fishing was 17 launches and 1 steam trawler, employing about 25 fishermen. There were 3 specially constructed launches engaged in whaling, 47 humpback whales being taken during the season, yielding 235 tons of oil, valued at £8,225. The quantity of fish brought in is given as 2,100 cwt., valued at £2,600. Wa.iran —Ten launches and 16 men were engaged in fishing, and 4 men were employed in other ways in connection with the industry. The kinds of fish caught were blue cod, snapper, garfish, mold, ling, flounder, sole, tarakihi, kahawai, hapuku, red cod, and crayfish. The quantity caught was 530 cwt. ; value, £800. Nelson. —There were 61 boats and launches and 1 steam trawler licensed, and the number of men exclusively engaged in fishing is given as 20. The report states that by far the greater number of licensed fishing-boats are owned by settlers in outlying districts, who only fish in their spare time and who license their boats so that they can sell their surplus catches. The kinds of fish caught are snapper, flounder, moki, butterfish, blue cod, gurnard, kahawai, and crayfish. The quantity of fish of all kinds caught during the year is given as about 820 cwt., and 300 dozen crayfish, valued at £935. The report states that the chief reason why the fishing industry does not progress at Nelson is the absence of suitable marketing eondilions and the want of cool storage for fish at the Port. Westporf. —The report supplied by the Collector of Customs slates that the season was a very good one for whitebait and a fairly good one for flounder. There were 9 boats licensed for fishing, and 10 fishermen engaged in fishing, and 10 others employed in other ways connected with the industry. The quantity of all kinds of fish caught, including 775 cwt, of whitebait, was 1,456