t62 



Letter — from Sir F. A. Nicholson, k.c.i.e., I.C.S., Honorary 



Director of Fisheries. 

 Dated — the ist July 191 o. 



I have the honour to submit herewith two papers by 

 the Marine Assistant, Mr. James Hornell, on the subject 

 of edible oyster culture, viz. (i) a report, with general 

 suggestions for India, on oyster culture as practised at 

 Arcachon, France, and (2) a note containing specific 

 suggestions for beginning work on Arcachon lines, at 

 Pulicat. These papers embody the suggestions, by an 

 expert, foreshadowed in the first sentence of paragraph 

 169 of my report on fisheries in Japan, and relating to 

 developments of oyster culture in this country ; see also 

 paragraphs 42 and 65 of my No. 55 of 1908 read in 

 G.O. No, 1635, dated i2th June 1908. 



2. As mentioned in my Dis. No. 68, dated nth 

 February 1909 (disposed of in G.O. Mis. No. 525, 

 Revenue, dated 24th P'ebruary 1909), I intended, when 

 recently on leave to Europe, to utilize my own and 

 Mr. Hornell's time in inspecting, inter alia, the Arcachon 

 methods of which we both had a general but not detailed 

 knowledge ; personally I was unable to go there, but 

 Mr. Hornell carried out the plan, and the accompanying 

 report is the result. I think that Government will agree 

 with me that it is a very valuable and practical bit of 

 work, and m.ay be the basis of large developments in this 

 country. 



3. Apart from the mass of practical details which, 

 with other knowledge gathered by Mr. Hornell, will 

 enable us at once to set on foot the experimental culture 

 of the oyster with every prospect of commercial success, 

 the great lessons for us in this report are (i) that by the 

 careless and selfish depletion of oyster beds carried out 

 by purely private interests and unrestricted by public 

 regulation, the richest oyster beds may speedily be 

 ruined ; (2) that wise regulation will prevent such 

 depletion ; (3) that where depletion has occurred, wise 

 regulation coupled with scientific industrial assistance 

 may not only restore a decadent or decayed industry but 

 may develop it far beyond its former scope. The 

 Arcachon oyster beds which, in the middle of the i8th 

 century, were maintained in fair productivity by Parlia- 

 mentary regulations necessitated by the heavy drain 

 upon their resources, fell into complete ruin by the middle 



