A SOURCE OF WEALTH.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XLVII, Issue 81841, 6 September 1906, Page 4

A SOURCE OF WEALTH.

It may be somewhat surprising tu those aicuMiiini'j iu tjf.ittio In a! .n (iusincb i bays a writer in ihe Auckand "Herald" t<t Ia n that the Auckland castimes give nearly as great an ana nf fishing grounds as me »i!i>.e i:i tlie Hru.L-.li seas. and that iiic quant ty of tisli coming tu the Auckland toasts is as great, if nH gteatcr. tnan that vis.ting the North Sea or the Irish Sea- British fishermen take, as tneir harvest from the sea, aooui ,£10,000,000 woita of fisn annual.}'. American tishcimen over XjS, 000,000 worth, Russian fishermen over j,0j0,000 worth, and Canadian i-t,000,000 wcrth, and the fishing industr}' in Europe and America tiiipoys neariy as many men as there are peop.e in Zealand, so that it ..Hi oe readily seen there must be a source of great wealth 'y.ng at our 10. in .act, between the Huraki Gulf and Bay of Plenty alone, tne snual* of fisa are uf far greater total lovtf va ue than all tbe tlocks and beards ot Auckland province, and ~3.., «s iat.cn from the sea, represents litt-e I<** >n food value than their weight in cattle and sheep. Very little, compautiveiy speaKing, is known ot the deep-sea fish around the Auckland coasts, those waicn do not colne i up to tbe harbours and is.and and reefs, but haunt the deeper batiks, and it is on such banks that most of the fishing in the Old World is done. I , Out of the 130 varieties at present ' known to exist in New Zealand waters, at least thirty-three are marketable, whi'e out of 208 varieties in . British waters only forty are market- [ able. Only about half a dozen varieties find their way to Auckland markets now, but there is lnfmense possi- | bility before a fish-freezing industry for the supply of colonial and over- , sea markets.