OYSTERS AND SALMON,

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 864, 9 July 1910, Page 13

OYSTERS AND SALMON,

During last season the Marino Depart- : ment picked and sold 7331 sacks.of rock 1 oysters.'/.They were obtained from, the' - beds in; the Hauraki Gulf, on Great,Bar-' Tier Island, and in the Bay of Islands..' The proceeds of the sale amounted, to £1775 17s. Gd., and the cost of .picking- ■" awl selling to A' 4205 its. 9d., giving a profit of ,£570 7s. lid. The expenditure includes ifilGO for inspectors' salaries, .£7l 10s. for interest on cost of and depreciation in value of two oil-laun,chcs, and . " ..£132 16s. 2d. for of erecting an oyster depot at Auckland. .The . pv3fit : - made on the sale enables the Department V to plant oysters on parts of the -foreshore : where the beds were ruined by pickers j before the Department, undertook .the picking. The "annual report states that ■. a careful examination, of the beds ill Iho Haiu'aki Gulf, Bay of Islands, Whangarei Harbour, and Kaipara Harbour, which -- lias been made by"Mr. Ayson, Chief In- J spector of Fisheries, and the local in 'specters, shows that it. is necessary " that . they .should have a rest this year. Most i of them have not-properly recovered from - the depletion v.-liieh took place under the old system of picking. There are, how-. . ;; ever,- very large numbers of oysters three: f years old and under, and it is considered that' after' this year there • will be suffi- ; cient to, enable them to be picked,and . V said every season. V

Referring to salmon the report states: —It is too early vet to say what will be the result of last year's importation of Atlantic salmon ova. It is recognised by pisciculturists that success cannot be assured by one year's importation, and that it' is therefore advisable to go on importing until there is lime to see that the fish become acclimatised. This was the. course adopted in the case of the ciuimuit salmon, and the success of the Department's action is undoubted, as the fish now go up the Waitaki River and its tributaries every year in largo nuni-. bers to spawn. It is recommended that another shipment of Atlantic salmon ova bo obtained from Great Britain next season.

Mr. Silvester Horne, who has assumed the Chairmanship of the Congregational Union, has been visiting his Parliamentary constituency — Ipswich. Recently lie spoke at St. Nicholas Congregational Church, and' outlined the mission of the Church _oi the future as that of reconstructing society on the basis of Brotherhood. At Oxford ho had come under the influence of Dr. Hatch, and his words had haunted him like a passion throughout his ministry. Mr. Horne descried a-card issued bj'the Independent Labour .Party in rinsbury, which was headed with the text, "Take heed that yo offend not one of these little 0110s," and, closed with one of the beautiful', collects .in the English Prayer-book, which sought God's blessing on childhood and motherhood. And in the centre of that card was a picture of the!, Virgin and the Child, and underneath wero words which asked that childhood and motherhood might be respected. Though these men talk wild things in Hyde Park, said Mr.. Home,' they rev-' erencc Jesus Christ. . Whatever might! bo the now arrangements in connection with the "Church of Tomorrow," ho had 110 doubt that tho figure of Christ would bo more unique, more powerful, and more, influential even than in tho great generations that lie behind us.