BIOLOGICAL STATION AND FISH HATCHERY. De 
Purakanui Inlet, about 12 miles north of Dunelin. The reasons 
given were as follows :— 
(1) Its ready accessibility from Port Chalmers, so that a 
small steamer could run round in little over an hour, 
while on the land side it is within three miles of a rail- 
way-Station. 
(2) Its sheltered position, so that, from whatever quarter the 
wind blows, the buildings would be safe from any sea, 
while at the same time a smal! steamer could lie close in 
to the entrance and be communicated with by boats. 
(3) The firm and rocky nature of the ground which would 
greatly facilitate the erection of tanks, buildings, «ec. 
(4) The abundance of pure sea-water which would always be 
available. 
(5) The fact that the inlet communicates with a wide bay— 
Blueskin Bay—into which, owing toa sort of eddy, great 
quantities of pelagic organisms are floated by the pre- 
valent winds and currents, so that it constitutes an 
excellent feeding-ground for young fish. 
(6) The occurrence of a current which flows up the coast in a 
north-easterly direction, at an average rate of about 1} 
miles an hour, by which any fry liberated at Purakanui 
would tend to be distributed along the coast. This last 
point is important in a colonial point of view, for any 
fry set free in Otago waters would soon spread north- 
wards ; whereas, if they were liberated in the north, say, 
at Cook Strait, they would not readily, if at all, move 
southwards. From Purakanui, it would be a matter of 
simplicity to convey fish or fry to Foveaux Straits, or to 
Stewart Island. 
The Institute adopted the report, reappointed the committee, 
and authorised me to communicate further with Dr. Fulton as to 
the possibility of retarding the development of fish ova for such a 
length of time as would enable them to be brought out to New 
Zealand without impairing their vitality. As an outcome of this. 
correspondence, the Council of the Institute voted a small sum of 
money to recoup the cost of a series of experiments to be carried 
out by the Scotch Fishery Board, at their Dunbar Station, on this 
problem, during the summer of this present year. I hope soon to 
hear that these have resulted satisfactorily. Meanwhile, the ques- 
tion was kept before the public and the local members of Parlia- 
ment, and at the beginning of this year the Council of the Otago 
Institute, and the Committee of the Otago Acclimatisation Society, 
each voted the sum of £250, conditional on the Government 
granting £500 for the work, and undertaking to carry on the 
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