530 Transactions. 



1896. It was considered that any place within Otago Harbour 

 would be unsuitable and undesirable for the station, because 

 " the whole area inside the Heads is systematically fished by 

 seine nets and lines, and is liable to constant disturbance by 

 traffic and harbour- works." Accordingly, attention was directed 

 to the various inlets and bays near Dunedin, but outside the 

 Heads, and Purakanui was selected as realising nearly all the 

 conditions required. The report met with the hearty ap- 

 proval of the Institute, which appointed a committee, consisting 

 of " Mr. A. Hamilton, Professor Parker, Dr. Don, Mr. F. E. 

 Chapman, and Mr. Geo. M. Thomson, to confer with a com- 

 mittee of the Otago Acclimatisation Society and with members 

 of both Houses of the Legislature, with a view to taking such 

 steps as will lead to the establishment of a marine fish-hatchery 

 at Purakanui." 



On the 3rd June, 1896, a meeting of those referred to was 

 held in the Town Hall, and was attended by the Hon. W. D. 

 Stewart, M.L.C., the Hon. W. M. Bolt, M.L.C., the Hon. John 

 MacGregor, M.L.C., James Allen, M.H.R. ; Messrs. A. C. Begg 

 and James Edgar, representing the Otago Acclimatisation 

 Society ; and Messrs. A. Hamilton and Geo. M. Thomson, re- 

 presenting the Otago Institute. It was felt that before the 

 Government could be approached, more definite information 

 on the scheme was required. The committee accordingly 

 entered into communication with the American Fish Com- 

 mission, and with Dr. Fulton of the Scotch Fishery Board, 

 and the latter gentleman undertook to carry out experiments 

 at the Dunbar Fish-hatchery with the object of ascertaining 

 how long it would be possible to retard the hatching-out of 

 the eggs of sea-fishes. The Otago Institute voted a sum of £10 

 to cover the expenses to be incurred in these experiments. 

 Owing, however, to the transference of the Scotch Board's 

 operations from Dunbar to the Bay of Nigg, near Aberdeen, 

 these experiments were never carried out. 



The whole question of the fish-hatchery was again brought 

 up by the author in more definite form before the Institute 

 and the Acclimatisation Society early in the following year 

 (1897), and each of these bodies voted £250 towards the esta- 

 blishment of the station, conditional on the Government 

 granting a similar sum for construction, and undertaking to 

 carry on the station for a term of, say, ten years. It was felt 

 that any work of the kind, though undertaken locally, was 

 really a colonial matter, and deserved colonial assistance, hence 

 the latter condition. About the same time Mr. G. M. Barr, 

 C.E., kindly went down to Purakanui with the members of the 

 committee and marked off the site suggested for the station. 



