THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1875.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 2138, 10 November 1875, Page 2

THE Evening Star. PUBLISHED DAILY AT FOUR O'CLOCK P.M. Resurrexi. WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 10, 1875.

By proclamation in a recent number of the New Zealand Gazette it is notified tbafc the time during which oysters may not be taken has been altered. Under " The Oyster Fisheries Act Amendment .Act, 1874/' the taking of.oysters was prohibited during the months of January, February and March. Now, by the recent proclamation, the month of December is made a part of the close season, and for four months in the year oysters are specially tabooed "within the district known as the Province of Auckland." We believe that legislation was \ very desirable to prevent the wholesale destruction of the oyster beds of the North which had been going on for years before" the present Act was passed, but what was wanted was not so much a prohibitory measure, as a protective one. It was the custom in some

parts of the. North Island, we believe, to collect oysters and burn them for the lime. : Ihis was a wanton waste which could not be stopped too soon. Then at one time it was a common practice for small craft to ballast with oysters on return from their coasting trips, and they found a ready, market for their " ballast" in Auckland, the outgoing steamers purchasing sacks of oysters for a merely nominal price. This customrequired restricting no doubt ;*bufc while the legislature acted wisely in stepping in to prevent the wholesale destruction^ of. the oyster beds, the wisdom of totally prohibiting the oyster trade for four months, in the year is open to question, and it is certainly hard upon those persons who depend in a great measure for a livelihood upon the oyster fishing to be able to carry on for only eight months in the year* What is desired is some encouragement to persons to conduct the oyster fishing intelligently, and while drawing-wealth from this source to try and extend the means. Referring to this subject of ostreaculture, an English paper has the following, the application of which to our own circumstances would be desirable .-:—■•

Oysteb Cultivation.-— If what we hear from France has truth, lovers of oysters may rejoice, for ostreacultiire is §aid to be in a most flourishing condition. Twenty years ago. a M. Coste devoted his 'mind to this interesting subject; his experiments at Lake Fusaro resulted very favourably, and the system is rapidly being adopted at many places along the French coast. In the Arcachon district 724 artificial beds had been granted by Government before 1871, which covered an area of 588 hectares (1,452 acres), and before the end of this year thenumber of beds will be over 3,000. In other districts the development of this new industry is equally remarkable. By careful husbanding, Bnd an intelligent working of a system which is now nearly complete, the writer states that the natural beds have not only been preserved from impending destruction, but enriched almost beyond belief. For instance, beds which wero considered exhausted in 1870 in the Arcachon district yielded, within (he few hours of last November

during which they were allowed to be dredged or fished, the incredible number of 40,361,000 oysters of marketable sizes. So, also, at Granville, the fortunate dredgers who had a few free tides granted them last year over old natural beds earned 700,000f. (£39,oop)by their catch. We may well take a I esson from France in this matter, and there seems no reason •why the beds should not be artificially revived here as they have^ been on the other side of the Channel.