8

H.—ls

Hokitika. —The catch of whitebait hist season is said to be the poorest for a good many years. The catch of other fish was also poor. /uiikoiira. —Strong easterly winds during the summer and autumn hindered fishing operations. Fish have been plentiful and good catches made whenever weather conditions were favourable. Raiigiora. —A good catch of whitebait for the season is reported; other fish fairly plentiful. Kaiapoi. —Very good catches of whitebait were made during the season, the value of the catch for the season being estimated at £2,000. Flounder and kahawai have been fairly plentiful in the estuary. New Brighton.—'We Inspector reports that only whitebait fishing was carried on during the year, and the run of these fish was rather poor. Lyttelton. —During the year there has been a decrease in quantity of the fish caught. The cause of the decrease on the previous year's catch is said to be owing to the scarcity of all kinds of fish, and to some of the fishing-boats having left the port and gone to Tiinaru. The Inspector reports that fish are landed in a cleanly manner, and forwarded by rail to Christchurch market with the least possible delay. Akaroa. —Fish have been fairly plentiful during the year, and whenever weather conditions were favourable good catches were made. SoutJibridge (Lake Ellesmere ). —The catch of flounder and herring for the year has been rather poor. This is principally due to the outlet being blocked during most of the time when the fish would run in from the sea. Timaru. —There has been a considerable increase both in the quantity and value of the fish brought in during the year. A freezing and ice-making plant for fish has been erected by Messrs. Ferron and Co., wholesale fish-merchants, of Christchurch. This will enable fishermen to forward their fish to market at all seasons without risk of loss. During the year an exclusive license for a natural oyster-bed has been granted. A certain amount of prospecting has been done, but the returns so far have not been encouraging to the holder of the license. Oamaru. —Generally speaking fish have been plentiful during the year, but the industry has been handicapped by inconvenient transport facilities and high cost of benzene and other necessaries, and during the year an unusual number of days have been lost by fishermen owing to the strong easterly winds which prevailed, and which brought up heavy seas along the coast. Moera/ci. —Fish have been plentiful, and good catches have been made whenever the weather conditions were favourable. Otago District. —With the exception of the first four months of the season the past year has been a very unsatisfactory one for fishermen. The weather conditions during the latter part of the year were very unfavourable, fishermen only being able to get out at intervals, and on several occasions not a boat could get out for a week at a time. The Dunedin market has on very few occasions been oversupplied with fish—generally the supply during the year has been irregular and insufficient. For a considerable time fish were scarce on the trawling-grounds. Taking the year on the whole the seine fishermen have done fairly well. The Nugget Bay fishermen have had a poor season, and a number of them have given up fishing and taken to other employment. Invercargill. —The catches of fish during the year have been about equal to other seasons. Flounder have been fairly plentiful. The Inspector reports the wholesale destruction of immature flounder by " week-end " parties who frequent the New River Estuary. Owing to the high wages offered at other employment a number of fishermen have-given up fishing, and this has caused a considerable falling-off in the supply of fish for the local market. Bluff. —Fish have been plentiful and the season generally has been a good one. Oysters have been plentiful and in splendid condition. Owing to the continued irregularity of the intercolonial steamer service there has been a decrease in the export of fish and oysters. Stewart Island. —During the past year fishing has been fairly good. The only fish the merchants will take are blue cod and groper (hapuku), and consequently these arc the only fish caught by fishermen. Chatham Islands. —The local Inspector reports that the fishing industry is in a flourishing condition, and the fishermen seem satisfied with the rate of remuneration they receive for their labour. There are three fish-freezing establishments, and the steamer " Himitangi," owned by the Chatham Island Fishing Company, runs regularly to the islands, taking down mails and stores for the settlers and fishermen, and bringing back fish, produce, and stock. Rock-oyster Beds. The total quantity of oysters marketed last season was 10,357 sacks. Of this quantity 4,108 sacks were taken from the Bay of Islands beds, 3,569 from the. beds in the Hauraki Gulf, 2,167 from Kaipara, 510 from the Great Barrier beds, and 3 sacks were picked at Hokianga. The Government oyster-depot has been shifted from the Railway Wharf to a site beside the Municipal Fish Market. The beds at Bay of Islands have made satisfactory improvement during the last two or three years. There has been a fair fixing of spat, last season on the beds in Pourerua, Ti Mongonui, and part of Kerikeri, but the fixing on the rest of the beds in the bay has been poor. The beds on the Hauraki Gulf are in good condition, but the fixing of spat on most of them last season has also been poor. On the Mahurangi, Kawau, and Whangarei beds there was a very good fixing, and in consequence the yield of oysters from them should in three or four years be greatly increased. The replanted beds on the Coromandel coast and islands in the Thames Gulf are improving very satisfactorily. A great amount of valuable work in improving the beds by removing high-water oyster-rock to medium-low and half-tide was carried out at Bay of Islands during the summer