BULLETIN" OP THE UNITED STATES FISH COMMISSION. 299 



failure, and no better apology can I give for the liberty I have taken in 

 writing you this long letter. I humbly hope that my action in this 

 matter may meet with your approval, as well as that of the government. 



"Assuring you that I shall be happy to render you any future service, 

 I bave the honor to be, your obedient servant, &c." 



The reply to the foregoing was dated 5 Westminster Chambers, Vic- 

 toria street, S. W., London, December 1, 1881, as follows: 



"I have the honor to thank you for your interesting letter of the 5th 

 November last in reference to the purse-seine and set-line which you 

 have been good enough to procure for transmission to Sydney, through 

 Messrs. E. W. Cameron & Co., of New York. 



"I shall have pleasure in sending a copy of your letter to my govern- 

 ment for their information, and I tender you my best thanks for the 

 trouble and attention you have been pleased to bestow on this matter." 



About the middle of June, 1882, 1 received the following letter plated 

 New South Wales Government, 5 Westminster Chambers, Victoria 

 street, southwest, June 1, 1882, and inclosing a copy of one from the 

 Colonial Secretary of New South Wales: 



"I have much pleasure in forwarding herewith a copy of a dispatch 

 received by me from the Colonial Secretary of New South Wales, re- 

 questing me to convey to you the thanks of the Commissioners of Fish- 

 eries of New South Wales for your courtesy and the trouble you have 

 taken in regard to certain fishery implements asked for by therm" 



New South Wales, 

 Colonial Secretary's Office, 



Sydney, March 31, 1882. 

 Sir: Eeferring to your letters, dated respectively the 18th November 

 and 2d December last, regarding the transmission of certain fishery 

 implements by Captain Collins, of the United States Fishery Commis- 

 sion, and Herr Wallem, of Bergen, Norway, I have the honor to request 

 that you will be so good as to convey to the above-named gentlemen 

 the thanks of the Commissioners of Fisheries for New South Wales for 

 their courtesy and the trouble they have taken in the matter. 

 I have the honor to be, sir, your most obedient servant, 



JOHN ROBERTSON. 

 The Agent-General for New South Wales, London. 



I have been unable to learn anything of the condition in which the 

 apparatus reached Sydney, a matter in which, for reasons already ex- 

 plained, I felt much interest. 



Replying to a letter of mine asking for information relative to this 

 subject, Mr. S. Yardley, secretary for the New South Wales Govern- 

 ment agency, writes under date of November 10, 1882, as follows: 



"Sir Saul Samuel has not received any communication from the gov- 

 ernment in regard to the fishery implements that you were kind enough 

 to collect and transmit to Sydney, and he fears that possibly they have 

 all-been destroyed in the disastrous fire at the Garden Palace." 



