THE SALMON OVA

Southland Times, Issue 1737, 6 May 1873, Page 2

THE SALMON OVA

The salmon ova for Otago, brought from England by the ship Oberon, arrived at the Bluff in the Storm Bird, specially chartered for the purpose by the Acclimatisation Society, on the afternoon of Sunday, 4th inst., about 4 o'clock. fc A special train was in waiting at the Campbelltown station, in accordance with the instructions of Hia Honor the Superintendent to the railway department. The transhipment from the steamer to the railway was effected under the direction of Mr Howard, the curator, assisted by Mr Butts, the honorary secretary of the Society, who had engaged the services of eleven laborers for the purpose ; and the whole of the ova were safely landed in the carriages within twenty minutes from the time of the arrival of the steamer at the wharf, the officers of the Storm Bird taking every care that the transhipment should be effected without the slightest concussion, which was the great danger to be avoided, and in this they were thoroughly successful. The time occupied in the transit from the Bluff to the Makarewa station was about an hour and a half, and the same care was exercised by the railway manager, Mr Conyers, who was in charge of the train, to ensure the safe transmission of the ova to their destination. With the view of avoiding the dreaded " concussion," which the or. dinary method of stopping railway trains would be sure to produce, the expedient of using only the break in the guard's van at the rear of the train was adopted, and with complete success. On the arrival of the train at the Makarewa, the men engaged were despatched to the ponds with three hand-barrows of ice, and one holding twenty boxes of ova, the ice being required to reduce the temperature of the water in the hatching-house. The night being very dark, it was fully two hours before this party returned to the station, when the remaining boxes were carefully arranged on the platform, and covered with ice, it being thought advisable to avoid the risk of further carriage over the rough road during an unusually dark night. The train then returned to town, and the men engaged went out by the 7 a.m. Monday train, and were employed yesterday forenoon, under the superintendence of Messrs Howard and Butts, in transferiug the boxes from the railway platform to the ponds, which was effected about 1 p.m. About 110 boxes were opened by these gentlemen, assisted by a number of volunteers, before dusk last night, and the contents transferred to the hatching houses. The remainder will be opened early to-day. So far as has yet been ascertained, about ten per cent, of the boxes seem to contain ova in a very satsisfactory condition , th« eyes, in many instances, being plainly visible. The others, we regret to say, were in most cases utterly worthless, but the number of boxes now safely landed in good condition gives this most interesting experiment quite a fair chance of success.