THE SALMON EXPERIMENTS.

Evening Star, Issue 4134, 27 May 1876, Page 4

THE SALMON EXPERIMENTS.

Ter to-flayV'Hraze.tte ' there M-a very interesting report on the above, under the liand of the Hon. Dr Menzies, as Chairman of the .Southland Acclimatisation Grants Trustees. Concerning the last shipment, ex Durham, he says :

Taking into account the character of the waters, of the nlllu-'nts, and o£ the estuaries ' f the vat-mu., rivers flowing into the sea into or near Fovraux Straits the trustees have agreed to suggot that of the fry veared from the sab. ou ova shipped by tho Durham tbrc-J-fifths should be placed hi one of the .affluents of tho rive- Oreti, and of tho rest twothirds in the Apartma and one-third iu the XVyndham. All t-hes-s rivers contain abundance of food, in ♦he form of waterlice, snails, &0., while shrimps and echini, the spawn of which is supposed to he a favorite food, abound intho sen, and a rapid growth of tho fish may ba confidently an i-ipited. . /Of tho ova that came to Southland from 2-5.(160 to ~'so,'fio6 Were apparently healthy, and of these it appeared that about-two-thirds wore not fecundated. ■ xli£ batchiiwf js now in progress, and for the present tHelCurafor is .unwilling to say anything more definite than an expression of his confident anticipathat ihia will prove a,more successful shipment '’ihan evpp the Lincolnshire. Tho trustees ‘bqlieVti , thaVfhe:mode adopted iu this instance of ,f ' ! fei^hß s khcf Britain by etti/tmers is that jiib«P : to effect tbe ihjiPrpli^ation of salmbu’iu New Zealnnd~im ohfeftt probably be secured by one othuV successful; shipment, and they trust that - amhftcitfetitk -vfHl be slilpmout in December.. * ’ CoiiSiihiipig' the brown trout 'tlic report ■ays;— _ '' ' ' ! ; Instances of .rtemnrkably rapid 'growth have occurred ia the ponds, whet® some of the browh trout when removed as yearlings to tho Makarcwa River were found to weigh nearly a pound. Many of them, at seven years old, have been estimated by the Curator! and some proved to weigh eight or nine pounds.

The trustees make the following suggea tions:—

The trustees wish to direct the attention of tho Government to the urgent reoommeudal ion of Mr Bucklancl ’n tho letter above quoted to the following effect—“ At the end of 11.0 .second year build, n fishing weir right across tho river to test at a very slight expfense whether the salmou really come ba<*k or not." The trustees recommend that his Excellency the Governor be advised to prohibit, under Ihcprovisiors of the Salmou and Trout Act, 1.967, the use—for a time—of nets or engines of any kind to capture fishiu the waters, salt or fresh, of any rivers iu ■which salmon have been placed. And, finally, the trustees earnestly urge that an Act of Parliament should be passed to prohibit all fixed nets or engines for the capture of fish in New Zealand waters.