OYSTERS AND OYSTER FISHERIES OF QUEENSIAND. 261 



however, miles of now barren, unremunerative, mud-flats, in both the Moreton and Wide Bay 

 districts, might be made to produce an abundant harvest; while, small selectors having foreshore 

 allotments, at present yielding them no return below high water-mark, would have at hand the ready 

 means of substantially augmenting their incomes. That in the no very distant future the employ- 

 ment of artificial spat collectors will be desirable, if not obligatory, as a means of supplementing 

 the natural supplies, and meeting the increased demand for both home consumption and export 

 that is likely to arise, is a conclusion, indeed, that can scarcely be avoided. The more imme- 

 diate necessity of resorting to artificial methods for collecting oyster spat, it may be observed, 

 has been strongly advocated by the Moreton Bay Oyster Fisheries Inspector, Mr. C. S. Fison. 

 On page 4 of his report for the year 1886, among a list of amendments recommended for the 

 better regulation of the oyster fisheries, a prominent position is allotted to the compulsory employ- 

 ment, by oyster-bank lessees, of artificial methods of spat catchment. 



It would appear desirable, at this juncture, to make a brief allusion to the section 

 on oyster cultivation included in the same District Inspector's Report for the year 1890. On 

 pages 3 to 5 of the report referred to, extensive quotations are made from letters treating on the 

 subject, contributed by a Sydney oyster merchant to the Sydney Press. The general tenor of 

 these letters is to depreciate the results that have been accomplished by methods of artificial culti- 

 vation in France. These results are, in point of fact, so grossly misrepresented as to make it 

 appear that the system is itself a failure, and that no success could attend its introduction into 

 Australian waters. The acceptance and republication of these letters, in all good faith, in an 

 official report, as embodying the latest and most accurate information on the subject of oyster 

 culture, is necessarily calculated to mislead the public, and to discourage any efforts which might 

 be made to profit by the highly successful results actually accomplished on the French sea-board. 

 It is with the object only of counteracting so undesirable an influence, that a brief statement of the 

 actual facts, with accompanying statistical figures, is herewith submitted. In the first place, it 

 would appear that the data upon which the letters above referred to are based, were derived from 

 the Government report on the oyster fisheries of Ireland, dating so far back as the year 1870; at 

 about which time, as testified to by witnesses engaged to collect evidence, the French oyster 

 fisheries were undoubtedly in a very declining state. The cause of that decadence, which is fully 

 explained in the report, was the avariciousness of the oyster-growers, who stripped their beds to 

 such an extent, to supply the markets, as to leave an insufficient quantity for the purposes of 

 propagation. This error, however, was corrected as soon as recognised, with the result that 

 within a very few years the French oyster fisheries had not only regained their former position, 

 but had eclipsed previous years in productiveness. The accompanying figures, derived from the 

 French statistical returns, sufficiently substantiate this statement. In the year 1873 the official 

 value of the oyster produce of France was estimated at 2,447,565 francs, or roughly _^99,ooo. 



