22 ACCLIMATISATION OF THE SALMONID.E IX TASMANIA. 



their tenure of office well entitled them to the com- 

 mendation they received from His Excelleiicy the (Jovernor 

 on their retirement, wliich was conveyed to them by the Chief 

 Secretary as follows : — " His Excellency accepts with regret 

 the resignation of these gentlemen, and the members of the 

 Government desire to join with him in expressing the high 

 sense entertained of the valuable services rendered by the 

 Commissioners in their efforts to introduce the salmon into 

 the waters of Tasmania. The services thus voluntarily 

 rendered to the colony for so lengthened a perioci, during 

 which the Commissioners had to combat with difficulties and 

 discouragement of no ordinary character will, it is hoped, 

 result in the acclimatisation of the true salmon, as it has 

 already in the propagation and distribution of the salmon 

 trout." 



Thus ended (he labours of the Salmon Commission, but the 

 work was not to stoj) there, as by a singular coincidence its 

 further prosecution has again fallen into the hands of this 

 Society, whose 1st volumes of records of 1841 contains corre- 

 spondence on the subject of salmon acclimatisation. Dr. 

 Agnew, Hon. Secretary to the Society, the only surviving 

 member of the Committee who reported on the subject in 

 1858, was so mnch impressed by the success of the last ship- 

 ment of " eyed ova" that he generously pro])Osed to the Royal 

 Society of Tasmania, that if they would ajipoint a Committee to 

 •undertake the conduct of another shipment, to consist of " eyed 

 ova" only he would personally meet all the expense of the 

 undertaking. The Society willingly accepted so noble an offer 

 and appointed a Committee of Management, consisting of 

 Messrs. A. G. Webster, Matthew Seal, K. M. Johnston, C. T. 

 Belstead, R. C. Read, and A. Morton, to which committee I 

 had the privilege and honour of being elected a member. It 

 was Dr. Agncw's express wish that the whole manageracnt in 

 relation to the collection of ova was to be entrusted to Sir 

 Thomas F. Brady, who was invited to accompany the ship- 

 ment to the colony. His Excellency the Governor also lent 

 his willing aid to further the object. It is unnecessary for 

 me to do more than allude to the shipment per Kaikoura, as 

 our gue?t Sir Thomas Brady has, so recently at Ihe oiieiiing 

 meeting of the session, given the fullest details of his work. 

 Those who, like myself, have been many years connected 

 with the S;il)iion Commission know well how to aj)j»reciate 

 the work Sir Tliomas Brady has done for the colony on this 

 occasion. Those unacquainted with the suliject know little 

 of the [)rivation3 to be undergone in the collection of salmon 

 ova during the most inclement season of the year — the 

 many miles of travelling to be endured and the anxiety in 

 relation to the numerous minute details necessary to ensure 



