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Inspection of Seamen. This service has been maintained. A record of men applying for work is kept for the purpose of filling vacancies as they occur. Sick and Injured Seamen. The total amount paid by shipowners to sick and injured seamen, under the provisions of the Shipping and Seamen Amendment Act, 1911, was £21,853 14s. 9d., as against £17,237 65.. 2d. in the previous year, an increase of £4,616 Bs. 7d. Registration of Shipping. On the 31st December last there were on the register of vessels in the Dominion 117 sailingvessels, of 19,452 tons register; 281 steamers, of 100,765 tons register; and 181 motor-vessels, of 3,476 tons register; as compared with 123 sailing-vessels, of 19,392 tons register; 276 steamers, of 91,750 tons register; and 165 mo tor-vessels, of 3,228 tons register, at the end of the previous year. The number of seamen and boys employed on board was 3,990, as compared with 3,859 at the end of 1924. Shingle and Sand Beaches and Foreshores. The Department's assets in its beaches and foreshores around the coast have been very carefully guarded, with the result tha-t the sum of £5,374 4s. lid. has been collected during the year in rents and royalties, as compared with £4,578 lis. lid. during the previous year. S.S. " Hinemoa." This vessel, after being extensively overhauled and altered under this Department's supervision, was handed over to the Department of External Affairs for service in the island trade. S.S. " Tutanekai." The lighthouse tender continued to perform her regular function, with the exception that for the periods 24th November, 1925, t6 24th December, 1925, and 26th April, 1926, to Bth June, 1926, she was engaged in conveying His Excellency the Governor-General round the South Island and to the Cook and other islands. In order to maintain the lighthouse tendering the services of the " Hinemoa " were secured for the period 18th January to 18th February. Meteorological Branch. This branch has carried out its usual function. It is understood it is to be transferred to a new Department to be created to encompass various scientific branches. Fisheries. It has hitherto been the practice to incorporate a long and detailed report by the Chief Inspector of Fisheries. This report is not yet available, but it is doubtful if much of the matter it has usually contained serves any really valuable future purpose, in that it is based on reports and information from outside people who have no responsibility and may often unconsciously mislead. It is proposed to institute as soon as possible a system of simple returns which will provide data of greater reliability and value as to the quantities of fish caught and their species. The information supplied will be regarded as strictly confidential to the Department, and will in course of time enable the collation of reliable data, and from this and investigation in various localities valuable results may be expected to accrue. There is reason to believe, from the opinions expressed by fishermen who have been consulted, that the fishermen, in the assurance that their returns will be regarded as confidential, will readily assist. In the past the activities of the Department have been primarily concerned with the routine administration of the Fisheries Regulations under the Fisheries Act of 1908 and its amendments, the aim of which is to secure the safe and proper operation of the fishing industry in its various phases, to the present advantage of the general public without jeopardizing the fishery possibilities for future generations. The measures taken under this head are necessarily regulative and restrictive. In addition the Department has been actively engaged for some years in developmental work. Under its protection the rock-oyster beds of the north have been saved from the imminent danger of absolute depletion to which they had been brought by the unregulated and almost unrestricted exploitation of former times. Since 1908 steps have been taken to increase the supplies by the creation of artificial beds and the replanting of depleted beds. There-are now encouraging indications that the construction-of "-oyster-walls "on suitable foreshores,- which, has been carried on at relatively small expense,-will prove a most profitable investment in the near future. This work is still going on, and it-is the ambition of the Department not merely to restore the natural beds to something like their old-time productivity, but also to multiply the normal natural yield by growing oysters where formerly there Were none. The most important developmental activity, the success of which has aroused world-wide interest, has been the acclimatization of the quinnat and Atlantic salmon species in New Zealand waters. The Department may take a legitimate pride in this achievement, which has been carried through with a very limited staff, and with material facilities which are very exiguous in comparison with those at the disposal of the Fisheries Departments of older countries. The Dominion occupies a position which is unique among the civilized nations of the world in its almost total lack of organized-official or unofficial : information about its fishery resources. Tt isclear that measures for. the proper administration of the fisheries, and for the development and

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