APPENDIX VI. 297 



a pond close to the river, where they could be returned to 

 it at any time, if it was found that they were wrongly 

 captured, and especially as one half of all the young fry 

 hatched were, according to agreement,* to go back to 



* Ottawa, September 2, 1868. 



Gentlemen : I am directed by the minister to state, that he 

 has considered the proposal made by your letter of 20th ultimo, 

 ill continuance of a verbal proposition made to him when at 

 Mirimichi, having in view the establishment of breeding-beds 

 and ponds for the artificial production of salmon at North Esk, 

 on the uorthvvest branch of the river Mirimichi. 



The department cannot allow any bounty, such as you men- 

 tion, nor attach any exclusive right to the enterprise in questiou, 

 neither afford any guaranty whatever for the expense you may 

 incur, but will extend to it such facilities as are warranted by the 

 interest which the public may have in your success, and shall 

 appear to be justified from time to time by the earuestness and 

 good faith of your endeavors or the actual fruits of your opera- 

 tions. 



At present it is deemed proper to specify in what terms the 

 requisite authority can be conveyed to you. 



1. That at private cost you shall make and keep in efficient 

 repair suitable rearing and feeding ponds, and spawning beds, 

 and a proper hatching house with troughs, and the other neces- 

 sary apphances at a brook emptying into the northwest branch 

 of the river Mirimichi, on the south bank thereof, on the prop- 

 erty of Mr. Joseph Goodfellow, in the parish of North Esk, as 

 named by you. 



2. That this establishment shall be built and maintained for 

 the bona fide purpose of hatching and rearing salmon. 



3. That from the time of impregnation, and during the period 

 of incubation, the salmon ova obtained for or deposited in this 

 establishment shall be and be deemed the property of the 

 crown, and one half of the young salmon so hatched and reared 

 therein, or in connection therewith, shall be, and continue, the 

 property of the crown, and shall be allowed to pass alive and 

 healthy and well fed into, and remain in, the waters of the 



13* 



