THE CANTERBURY SALMON OVA.

Dunstan Times, Issue 578, 16 May 1873, Page 2 (Supplement)

THE CANTERBURY SALMON OVA.

(From the Press, dth ml.) , The Canterbury quantity was placed in five boxes containing forty smaller ones which were put on board the Alhambra, and for additional safety were slung by indiarubber bands to prevent shaking. The Alhambra arrived at Lyttelton on Tuesday evening, and, as we stated in our issue of yesterday, the ova wai conveyed to the railway station, where it remained all night, Mr Blakiston and Mr S. 0. Farr, the hon. secretary of the Acclimatisation were at the railway station, at 8 p m., to superintend the conveyance of the salmon ova to the gardens. The boxes were conveyed u i the lino as far as the Windmill road, and were taken off the train and carried the remainder of the journey by a number of men engaged for the purpose. On arrival at the gardi ns the boxes were opened and conveyed lo the hatching-house. On opening the boxes a very noticeable distiuction was perceptible in the state of the ova; in some of the boxes almost the entire contents were dead, while in others the eggs were in the most healthy state possible. Unfortunately, there was no distinctive mark upon fie boxes, which might have showed from whence the ova was originally taken in England, or under what circumstances those boxes containing so large a proportion of healthy ova were packed. The next step was to place the ova into boxes through which a gentle stream of water is continually Howing and kept at a suitable temperature by the use of ice. Although there was a very serious diminution in the number of the ova since they left England, still there are some thousands remaining which, under judicious treatment and with ordinary luck, will be sufficient to eventually stock the rivers of New Zealand with valmon; but it must be remembered that, under ordinary circumstances, a large proportion of the ova are sure to perish, even after safe landing, and there will no doubt he a still further reduction in the numbers eventually brought to maturity, as there are considerable quantities in the boxes with very little vitality in them, In opening the boxes two methods were adopted; the first was to sink the box into a stream of iced water, and allow it to remain there for about half-an-hour, when the moss was carefully removed and all the good eggs taken out with a spoon or a idass syphon. The second plan was to remove the first layer of moss and turn out the entire contents of the box, ova, and moss, into a running stream of iced water, where the ova was pi ked out and placed iu the before-mentioned hj itching boxes. Some of the ova are iu a very forward state, the eyes of the fish being distinctly perceptible, and there is every probability that in the course of a few days the first instalment of the new arrivals will have heea safely ha'ched, ami the acclimatisation safely accomplished of the most valuable importation as yet introduced into the Province by the Canterbury Acclimatisation Society.