PROCEEDINGS OF SECTION D. OTs 
Mr. Ayson left the colony on &th April, 1898, and proceeded 
to Europe via Suez. After visiting marine fishery establishments 
in various European countries, he proceeded to America, and 
studied the preblems being worked out there. 
Meanwhile, as the before-mentioned vote of £750 was evidently 
insufficient for the expenses of Mr. Ayson and the hatcheries 
together, Parliament, in the session of 1898, voted an additional 
sum of £250, making £1000 in all. Unfortunately, as votes 
lapse which are not expended by the end of each financial year, 
all of the above amount not spent on Mr. Ayson’s expenses 
lapsed on 31st March, 1899, so that there is now nothing to the 
credit of the project. 
One recommendation of the Institute was given effect to 
during 1898, the Governor-in-Council setting aside an area of 
64 acres in Purakanui Inlet, the site indicated by the committee, 
as a reserve for the Marine Hatchery. 
In August, 1899, Mr. J. A. Millar, M.H.R., senior member for 
Dunedin, asked the Government what steps they now proposed to 
take in connection with the Purakanui scientific station, and the 
reply received by him was to the effect that “they intended to 
establish such a station, provided the summer and winter tem- 
perature of the water would suit, and this they are now testing.” 
Later on, the Government sent Mr. L. F. Ayson (previously 
appointed Inspector of Fisheries) down to Dunedin to report on 
the whole scheme; and on 9th December, 1899, a conference 
of those interested met Mr. Ayson in the rooms of the Otago 
Acclimatisation Society. The following were present :—Pro- 
fessor Benham, Mr. A. Hamilton, and Mr. G. M. Thomson, 
representing the Otago Institute; Messrs. J. P. Maitland (chair- 
man), Thos. Brown, Wi. Begg, aarti D. Russell, representing the 
Otago Acclimatisation Society; and Messrs. L. F. Ayson and 
i, H. Hastings (local inspector) representing the Government. 
Mr. Thomson explained shortly the object of the conference, 
and stated the course the two local bodies interested were willing 
to adopt in the event of the Government helping them. He 
submitted to the meeting the following memorandum, which he 
had drawn up on the subject :— 
“The scheme originated in a paper read before the Otago 
Institute on 8th October, 1895, by Mr. G. M. Thomson, published 
in the Otago ‘ Daily Times and Witness’ of a few days later, 
and reprinted i in Sir James Hector’s report (H. 17, Sess. II., 1897, 
entitled ‘ Protection of Mullet,’ p. 21). The Institute appointed 
a committee to investigate the question, and report. This com- 
mittee has been continued up to the present time, and consists 
of Professor Benham, Mr. A. Hamilton, and Mr. G. M. Thomson. 
In May, 1897, the Otago Acclimatisation Society and the Otago 
Institute each voted the sum of £250 towards the construction 
of such a station, conditional on the Government agreeing to 
Ss 
