Thomson. — Portobello Marine Fish-hatchery. 535 



Engineer of the Public Works Department. I am to ask you 

 to be good enough to express your opinion on these proposals." 

 This suggestion did not quite meet the views of the contri- 

 buting bodies, and further correspondence ensued. Indeed, the 

 Acclimatisation Society took such an adverse view of the atti- 

 tude of the Minister that, at a meeting held on the 25th April, 



1902, it was decided " to withdraw the Society's offer of £250 

 towards the cost of the proposed hatchery." This difficulty 

 was eventually got over, and the vote reinstated. 



On the 24th April the Otago Institute nominated the author 

 as its representative on the proposed Board ; on the 22nd May 

 the Acclimatisation Society nominated Mr. Robert Chisholm ; 

 and on the 9th June the Board was gazetted, its members being : 

 Mr. David Barron, Chief Surveyor ; Mr. Charles W. S. Chamber- 

 lain, Collector of Customs ; Mr. Robert Chisholm ; Mr. Charles 

 E. W. Fleming, Superintendent of Mercantile Marine ; and 

 Mr. George M. Thomson. 



The first meeting of the Board was held on the 24th June, 

 when Mr. George M. Thomson was appointed chairman, Mr. 

 Chamberlain undertaking to act as honorary secretary and 

 treasurer. The Board got to business at once, and proceeded 

 to make arrangements for the works required, calling in the 

 assistance of Mr. J. Blair Mason, C.E., as consulting and super- 

 vising engineer. The necessary excavations and filling-in for 

 tanks, ponds, &c, was executed by Mr. George Morrison, con- 

 tractor, Dunedin, and the erection of the caretaker's residence 

 and hatchery building by Messrs. R. Bauchop and Co., of Port 

 Chalmers. Progress was very slow for a long time, as all plans, 

 tenders, &c, had to be submitted to Wellington before they 

 could be undertaken, and it was not till the beginning of July, 



1903, that matters were sufficiently well advanced to necessitate 

 the appointment of a clerk of works to supervise the construc- 

 tion. Out of nineteen applicants for the position, Mr. T. Ander- 

 ton was selected. 



By the beginning of 1904 the work was so much advanced, 

 though far from being ready to commence operations, that the 

 opportunity of the visit of the Australasian Association for the 

 Advancement of Science to Dunedin was taken to formally 

 open the hatchery. A large party of the members visited the 

 site on the 13th January, and the station was formally opened 

 by Professor T. W. Edgeworth David, F.R.S., President of the 

 Association. At the meeting of the general council of the Associa- 

 tion held on the previous day, a committee, consisting of Messrs. 

 C. W. Chamberlain, D. Barron, and G. M. Thomson, was ap- 

 pointed " to investigate the local conditions affecting the food- 

 supply of food fishes of New Zealand seas at the fish-hatchery 



