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The Agent-Geneeal to the Hon. the Minister of Marine. Sie,— 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., Bth September, 1888. I have received your telegram of the 6th instant, instructing me to send out a fresh supply of salmon ova this season provided the cost does not exceed £500. I will do my best to carry out your orders, but at this moment I cannot be sure of being able to do so with success, on account of the lateness of the time of year. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Marine, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

The Minister having Charge of the Marine Department to the Agent-General, London. Sir, — Marine Department, Wellington, 17th September, 1888. Adverting to my letter (No. 449/57) of the 6th instant, asking you to procure and forward to the colony a supply of Scotch salmon ova, I have the honour to request that you will be good enough to forward at the same time two boxes of salmon-trout ova, which will be hatched ou£ at the M'asterton ponds. I have, &c, Geo. Fishee, (For Minister having Charge of the Marine Department). The Agent-General for New Zealand, 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W.

The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister of Marine. Sir,- — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 12th December, 1888. Since I last wrote to you respecting a shipment of salmon ova the necessary steps have been taken for netting the Tweed and Tay, leave for that purpose having been courteously given by the Eiver Boards, and Sir James Maitland has been kind enough to let the ova be laid down at the Howietoun Fishery. Mr. Superintendent Donaldson, who has done such good service for us on previous occasions, has everything in readiness to start fishing next week if the weather permits and the river is in fly. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Marine, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

The Agent-General to the Hon. the Ministee of Marine. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 29th December, 1888. In continuation of my letter of the 12th instant (No. 1,744), I beg to say that about 150,000 salmon ova have been got up to the beginning of this week, and they will be in the proper stage of incubation at Howietoun to be sent by the s.s. " Arawa " to Dunedin on the 24th January. I hardly expect to get many more, as the rivers have not been in good condition for the fishing, and I am unwilling to make more than one shipment if it can be helped, on account of the expense of fitting up chambers on board two vessels. I have, &c, The Hon. the Minister of Marine, Wellington. F. D. Bell.

The Agent-General to the Hon. the Peemier. (Telegram.) London, sth January, 1889. Five hundred thousand salmon ova—part to Port Chalmers, " Arawa; " rest "Aorangi."

The Agent-General to the Hon. the Minister of Marine. Sie, — 7, Westminster Chambers, London, S.W., 11th January, 1889. Since writing to you on the 29th December (No. 1,843), I am glad to say we have had very successful fishings, and there are now altogether half a million salmon ova at Howietoun, of which. 440,000 are from the Tweed and the rest from the Forth. I have not been able to avoid making two shipments, as the ova we last got will not be properly ready for the " Arawa" on the 24th instant. Needless to say that the time of fishing, and the period required for incubation, cannot be made to fit in with the departure of a particular steamer. About 200,000 are going in the " Arawa" to Port Chalmers, and the remainder will go by the " Aorangi" to Wellington on the 7th February. I telegraphed this to you on the sth instant, so that you might arrange in good time for the transhipment of any ova at Wellington according as it may be decided to distribute them. The space to be occupied in the " Arawa " by the first shipment is, in round numbers, 1,100 cubic feet, the cost of which at the present rate of freight would be, at £4 a ton measurement, about £110 ; but I have appealed to the shipping companies to charge no more than the rate we paid for the last shipments two years ago, which was £3 a ton. The experience gained, not only in our own shipments, but in the Tasmanian one under the personal charge of Sir Thomas Brady last year, has enabled several improvements to be made, such as the omission of the third layer of ova in the trays of the Howietoun boxes and a better drainage of the ice-drip. Indeed, the insulating-cases might have been dispensed with, and the boxes placed only on shelves, thereby saving a good deal of freight, if it had not been for the danger of taking the boxes out of the cold-chamber into the temperature of the air ; but it is impossible to ran that risk. There were no sea-trout OTa (Salmo trutta) at Howietoun, and it was too late in the season to send any from Solway Fishery with the salmon ova. Mr. Armistead's sea-trout spawned at the end of October, and the ova are now hatching out. The price would have been £1 per thousand ; but I could not make a separate shipment of them, as it would have trenched too much on the