222 



THE GREAT BARRIER REEF. 



had died, and the remainder had so deteriorated in health as to become unfitted to withstand 

 the abnormal conditions of a journey farther south by another steamer, in which the circulating 

 arrangements of the sea-water were less perfect than in the Waroonga. The last surviving 

 pearl-shell was removed from the travelling frames on reaching Mackay, within two days' 

 steam of Brisbane. Notwithstanding the negative results arrived at in this particular instance, 

 sufficient evidence was gained by the experiment to show that, under more favourable con- 

 ditions, the transport of the living shell fiom Thursday Island to Moreton Bay, or to an even 

 greater distance, is possible. 



For the information of those to whom the mother-of-pearl shell fishing grounds of Torres 

 Strait may prove an attractive field for practical operations, an excerpt of the clauses relating to 

 the new regulations with reference to the legal sizes of the shell, and the facilities at dispo.sal for 

 obtaining loans of produce areas, is herewith appended. — 



''Ad 55° Victoria No. 29. 



" Pearl-shell and Beche-de-nicr Fishery Amendment Act 0/ 1S91. 



"Clause II. Any person who removes, except for the purposes of cultivation only within the 

 colony, or sells or exposes for sale, or attempts to export from the colony, and any dealer in pearl 

 oyster shell who purchases, any pearl oyster shell of the kind scientifically known as Meleagrina 

 margaritifcra, !nnA of either of the varieties commonly known as 'golden-edge' and 'silver-lip,' 

 of which the nacre or mother-of-pearl measures less than six inches from the butt or hinge to the 

 opposite edge or lip, shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds for every such pearl 

 oyster shell found in his possession, and every bag or other receptacle containing shell in which 

 any such shell is found, and every heap or other collection of shells in which any such shell is 

 found, shall be forfeited. 



" Any person in whose possession any such shell is found shall be bound to disclose to an 

 inspector on demand the name and address of the person from whom he acquired the same, and if 

 he fails to do so shall be liable to a penalty not exceeding five pounds. 



"Provided that if it is proved to the satisfaction of the Governor in Council that the ordinary 

 size of any such pearl oyster shell when full grown is, when found within any specified territorial 

 waters of Queensland, of less size than that hereby prescribed, the Governor in Council may by 

 Proclamation direct that with respect to any such pearl-shell found within those waters other 

 dimensions shall be substituted for those hereby prescribed : And with respect to the pearl-shell 

 so found, the dimensions so directed to be substituted shall be deemed to be so substituted in the 

 enactment in this section contained. 



"And provided further that in the case of any such pearl oyster shell of the variety' commonly 

 called 'dwarf shell,' an inspector may, on application, at his discretion, authorise its removal or 

 sale, or exposition for sale, notwithstanding that it is of less size than that hereby prescribed. 



