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countries; he had, at his own expense, kept hatcheries, 
and fisheries, which in almost every civilized country were 
carried on by Government officials. If they were told that 
a person who drew a fish out of the water was entitled to 
the thanks of the community for adding to the food of the 
people, how much more was he entitled to gratitude who 
spent his time and money in increasing the number of 
young fish, and so augmenting the food supply of the 
population at large? Another question of some import- 
ance was this, Whom had they to thank for the present 
condition of fisheries, those who made such large profits 
by destroying the Salmon and polluting the rivers? If the 
legislature permitted these things, surely it was bound to 
give some assistance to fisheries by adding to the supply 
of young fish, to make up for those that were destroyed. 
Sir James Maitland was carrying out experiments which 
no doubt would be of great benefit to fisheries ; he was 
trying experiments on hybridisation of fish. With regard 
to land-locked Salmon, it might or might not remain in the 
upper waters of the river if there was no large lake to which 
it could have access ; but the question arose, if you crossed 
the Trout and the Salmon, whether the young would be 
sterile, and if they could not breed, would they develop the 
propensity of going down to the sea. If the fish remained 
in the upper waters of upper riparian proprietors, would 
they have the means of getting a breed of fish which they 
could keep to some extent to themselves? At present the 
lower riparian proprietors on some rivers were catching a 
larger proportion of the Salmon, whilst the upper riparian 
proprietors were like clucking hens who were hatching 
eggs and letting the fish down to construction. With 
reference to the acclimatization of fish, Sir James Maitland 
had given a warning which ought to be taken to heart. 
