Thomson. — Porlobello Marine Fish-hatchery. 531 



In bringing this matter before the Government, the Hon. 

 W. M. Bolt, M.L.C., and Mr. J. A. Millar, M.H.E., acted in 

 co-operation with the committee, and during the session of 

 1897 the sum of £750 was placed on the estimates " and voted 

 for fish-hatcheries and expenses of Expert Ayson to Canada 

 and America." But in the letter sent to the author by the 

 Marine Department it was added " that nothing will be done 

 by the Government in the matter of establishing hatcheries 

 pending the return of the expert." 



The author wrote to the Marine Department on the 9th 

 February, 1898, suggesting that the site marked out by Mr. 

 Barr for the station should be set apart as a reserve, and ac- 

 cordingly in the Gazette of the 23rd September, 1898, there 

 appeared a Proclamation setting aside " 6| acres in Purakanui 

 Inlet as a reserve for a fish-hatchery." An additional sum 

 of £250 was also placed on the estimates for " fish-hatcheries." 

 Mr. Ayson returned from his European and American trip 

 early in 1899, and in the month of April came south to examine 

 the site at Purakanui, and to report on the scheme. No doubt 

 a report was sent in to the Department, but nothing definite 

 was ascertained about it till, in reply to a question asked in the 

 House by Mr. Millar, who moved for information as to the 

 proposals of the Government, it was stated that " observa- 

 tions as to the summer and winter temperatures of the water 

 at Purakanui were required before the scheme could be gone on 

 with, and that steps for obtaining these were being taken." 

 As a matter of fact, nothing was done in this matter, nor could 

 anything of the kind have been undertaken without a very 

 considerable expenditure, as there was no apparatus avail- 

 able, and no one on the spot to take observations. 



Meanwhile, in December, 1899, Mr. Ayson came down again 

 to Dunedin, and on the 8th met representatives of the Otago 

 Institute and of the Acclimatisation Society in conference. 

 The members present were Professor Benham, Messrs. A. 

 Hamilton and Geo. M. Thomson, representing the Institute ; 

 Messrs. J. P. Maitland, T. Brown, A. C. Begg, and D. Bussell, 

 representing the Acclimatisation Society ; and Messrs. J. F. 

 Ayson (Inspector of Fisheries) and D. H. Hastings (local 

 Inspector), representing the Government. The history of the 

 movement from its inception up to the date of the conference 

 was narrated by Mr. Thomson, who further stated the objects 

 and requirements of the proposed station, as follows : — 



Objects of the Establishment. — (1.) To institute scientific in- 

 vestigations on the marine fish fauna : (a) Physical — viz., tem- 

 perature and density of the sea at various seasons, depths, 

 &c, currents, &c. ; (b) biological — viz., study of the develop- 



