H.—ls.

On the other hand, there are societies that have contributed on a generous scale that is relatively much in excess of their local interest in the work being done. However, the result of better understanding and more effective biological control of fresh-water life may be expected ultimately to be of most benefit to those districts where the fishing is at present of little value, the fishing-license holders few in number, and therefore, in most but not in all cases, the present contributions to the funds for the work at a minimum. The work indeed is a national not a parochial interest. All unpolluted natural waters will carry a stock of useful and sporting fish of some sort, but until we know more about such waters we cannot make proper use of their potentialities. One of the future objectives of this scheme is the establishment of a station where possible subjects for acclimatization, both fishes and food organisms for fish, may be experimentally kept under scientific control before being liberated into suitable environments. One important object will be achieved when we have a scientific —i.e.., an accurate and comprehensive —understanding of all the conditions affecting trout-life in New Zealand waters ; but it need not and should not end there. As the science and art of agriculture, depending on a basis of biological research, have enabled us to multiply the productiveness of the land, so can the science and art of aquiculture be applied to augmenting the productiveness of the fresh water when the biological factors are elucidated. Only thus can this allegedly deteriorating " Angler's Paradise " be preserved and developed into a still more attractive field for the future recreation of increasing numbers of New Zealand and visiting fishermen. The need is therefore immediate for undertaking the collection and study of the necessary data, and it is a task for forward planning and systematic execution. That, in brief, is the case for fresh-water fishery research being established on a sound footing. The New Zealand Acclimatization Societies Association was influenced by this fact, besides recognizing that Government Departments (Marine, Internal Affairs, and Tourist) were also interested in the well-being and development of the fresh-water fisheries, when among other resolutions passed at its Conference in 1932 on the subject of research and the setting-up of the Central Committee was one to the effect " That Government be asked for a grant towards the work." Unless in the meantime some benefactor in the person of a piscatorial Cawthron arises to endow an institution for fresh-water fishery research, there is nothing more certain than that sooner or later an appreciation of the importance of the issues depending upon such research will induce the New Zealand Government to make the necessary provision. In most civilized countries, in addition to work done by private and academic institutions, fishery research is now a normal function of some State Department. Possibly the development will take place in New Zealand as part of an up-to-date organization of the whole system of fishery administration the necessity of which is indicated by other considerations. These are not relevant to the present discussion, but it should be recognized that scientific investigation is necessary as a guide to administration, and that the efficiency of both depends upon effective co-ordination between a competent central directive unit and the provincial units that are in touch with local operations and local conditions. I have, &c., A. E. Heitoed, Chief Inspector of Fisheries.

MARINE FISH HATCHERY AND BIOLOGICAL STATION, PORTOBELLO. Sir, — I have the honour to present the report of the Portobello Marine Fisheries Investigation Station for the year ending March, 1934. The Board has sustained a great loss in the death of our late President, George Malcolm Thomson. In 1895 Mr. Thomson read a paper before the Institute with regard to the possibility of introducing a variety of European fishes into our seas. The desirability of establishing a marine hatchery was discussed in 1896, and the site then proposed was at Purakanui. In 1897 the matter was brought before the Otago Institute and the Otago Acclimatization Society in a more definite form, and each of these bodies voted £250 towards the establishment, conditional on the Government granting a similar sum or undertaking to carry on the station for ten years, and, as a result, the Government voted £750 to be given when Mr. Ayson as Government expert had returned from Canada and America. In 1895 the Government set aside acres at Purakanui as a reserve for a fish hatchery, and an additional sum of £250 was placed on the estimates. Late in 1899 Mr. Thomson outlined the work which should be undertaken and the style of buildings needed. It was now decided that the site at Purakanui was unsuitable, and the present location was decided on. In 1900 the nature of the buildings was decided. In 1901 Mr. Thomson drew the attention of the Minister of Marine to the fact that the people here concerned in the Station had no status, and asked that Government should set up a Board of Control. In 1902 the Minister agreed to set up a Board consisting of one member of the Otago Institute, one of the Otago Acclimatization Society, the Collector of Customs, the Chief Surveyor, and the District Engineer of the Public Works Department. The Minister also stated that the total cost of the buildings was not to exceed £1,000 (the previous estimates were much higher), and personal working-expenses were not to exceed £250 annually. The Board was gazetted on the 9th June, 1902, the members being Messrs. G. M. Thomson, Robert Chisholm, D. Barron, C. Chamberlain, and Charles Fleming. The first meeting was held on the 24th June, Mr. Thomson being appointed Chairman. By the beginning of 1904 the buildings were sufficiently ready for a formal opening by the President of the Australian Association for the Advancement of Science. Mr. Thomson's scheme, so long in planning, at last came to fruition after overcoming many difficulties. During the long period that has

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