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Hawke's Bay Times, Volume 17, Issue 975, 23 March 1871, Page 3

" We have heard a good deal," says the Ovens Spectator, "of the extraordinary number of fish taken out of the Oven* River by the baskets of Mr Henley's wheel at Oxl ey, which he uses for lifting water for irrigation purposes. On a recent visit to Mr Henley's, we witnessed the curious process one never contemplated by the proprietor, speculative as he is. The buckets are deep, and as the fish endeavor to make up the river, they get into them as they pass, evidently to escape the force of the clown current, and are thus lifted and emptied with the water into the flume. Large and small keep constantly turning up, and of all kinds; but they generally come in shoals, and we ourselves witnessed within half an hour taken from the boxes, some two dozen fish, chiefly bream," v- eighing from a few ounces to three and four pounds each. The small ones are of course returned to the river, but we believe at least a hundredweight of saleable fish in twenty-four hours is the rule and not the exception. From the flume and race the fish are lifted by a net, and deposited in an artificial pond through which water i« constantly running, and here they aie also netted as required, and sold in the same condition as if then and there taken out of the river. In connexion with this we have a curious snake story. On first approaching the flume with Mr Henley, we observed a great commotion amongst the fish jiv-i raised, which was difficult to account for. Presently a tiger snake put his head out, and was crawling up the bank when Mr Henley killed it with the hoop of the net which he had in his hand, We did not think at the moment of opening him, but we have no doubt he was making a meal of the small fry."