THE ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume VII, Issue 1980, 2 May 1885, Page 2

THE ACCLIMATIZATION SOCIETY.

A VISIT TO THE HATCHING HOUSE,

The hatching house and ponds of the Acclimatization society are a subject of considerable interest just at present,. on account of the arrival'of a large quantity of salmon ova on Thursday night, But this is not by any means their only importance,' as trout of three different descriptions, of all sizes, and in considerable numbers/may also be found in theponds. When our reporter visited the place yesterday afternoon, Mr A, Rutherford, who brought up the ova, was engaged in distributing it over the various hatching boxes. In this he was assisted by the custodian. Nearly all. the available space has been taken up with these boxes, through which a stream of fresh and remarkably clear spring water, supposed to bo in reality a soakage from the Waingawa, is continually flowing. Water in sufficient quantities to drive a mill is continually flowing from a small well that has been sunk in an adjoining bank, whence it is led, by means of a trough, to the house, where it is distributed to the boxes by means of very simple yet most effective contrivances. As there is a continual liow the surplus is allowed to escape through a small grating at the lower end, The ova is thus kept in a running stream of an even temperature, and it is found that this is an improvement on nature, as a far greater percentage of fish is obtained. Nearly all the boxes are at present filled with salmon ova, which has the apnearance of a large quantity of amber beads about the size of a small pea,. .The bad and doubtful have been separated from the good, but have not been thrown away, as there ia reasons to believe that they will yield a small percentage of fish. As soon as a box has received its-proper quantityof ova it is covered, with a perforated board, which excludes the light, and assists in maintaining alreven temperature. The ova was forwarded in two large square boxes, fitted with" numerous shallow wooden pans, on which the ova was spread. Astheseboxesare valuable, they will be returned to Wellington, sotliatthey may be available for future shipments. Outside of the house are a number of ponds, about five feet wide, three feet deep, and twenty feet long. In these may be seen trout of almost all sizes. One of them contains a very large number of small fry measuring scarcely two inches, another has a larger size, and so on till the last is occupied by fish, some of which would probably turn the scale ,at three or tour pounds. It is expected that in about a month's time a quantity of ova will be obtained from these. To get as much'as possible it is intended to catch some fish in one of' the streams in the neighborhood, where they are plentiful, and to put them into one of the ponds. The importance of the shipment of salmon ova can scarcely be over-estimated. Attempts to introduce the Scotch salmon have frequently been made, but until now they have invariably failed, and tho various acclimatisation societies have thus gone to considerable expense without doing any good, except that they wero learning something by experience. About six months ago they clubbed together to make another .attempt, and the result was.that Mr Farr, the-Secretary of the Canterbury Society, who has always taken a very lively interest in the matter, was provided with funds and sent Hoino. He selooted the Tweed for collecting tho ova, and during the six weeks ho stayed thoro, he obtained about one hundred thousand, a large number of nion beuig employed by him. That the work was expunsivo may be'gathered from the fact that tho £6OO which Mr Farr had taken with him was expended before it was cotnploted, and that he had to overdraw his account by £IOO. Tho cost of the ova on landing in Wellington was therefore about £7OO. A portion of tho ova brought to Masterton belongs to the Hawke's Bay Society, which, it appears, has no conveniences for hatching. The local portion will be distributed over the rivers in the district.