976 EEPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



5. I feel this explanation is necessary under tbe circumstances, and 

 because I also know that very great regret will be felt in the colony 

 when they learn that any difiBculty has arisen through an informality and 

 apparent want of courtesy on their part. Very great interest is taken 

 in this matter in jSew Zealand, and the liberality of the United States 

 Government, through its Fish and Fishery Commission, will be grate- 

 fully aoknowledged by that country.' 



I have, &c., 



EGBERT J. OREIGHTON, 



Resident Postal Agent for the New Zealand Government. 



Hon. Spencer F. Baird, 



United States Commmissioner of Fisheries^ Washington. 



United States Government BuiLDiNa, 



Centennial Grounds, 

 West PhiladelpMa, Pa., September 28, 1876, 



Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your letter of the 20th of September, 

 and trust that Mr. Stone will be able to meet my request to supply a 

 series of salmon eggs to the several colonies of New Zealand. 



Owing, however, to the comparatively late period of the application 

 and of the transmittal of instructions, it is barely possible that the full 

 measure can be given. Future applications should be made early in the 

 spring. 



My request to Mr. Stone, to send 50,000 eggs to Dr. Hector at Wel- 

 lington, was on my own motion. When I saw the doctor last in Phila- 

 delphia, he proposed to obtain a grant of money from the colonial authori- 

 ties for the entire service, without specifying the stations or quantities, 

 since which I have not heard from him. 



I have, &c., 



SPENCER F. BAIRD. 

 . Robert J. Creighton, Esq., 



Postal Agent, New Zealand Government, San Fraticisco, Gal. 



San Francisco, Cal., October 10, 187G. 

 Dear Sir: I am in receipt of your favor of the 28th September, and 

 have to thank you for your courteous attention and the readiness with 

 which you complied with the informal applications from New Zealand 

 for salmon ova. I have already written to the colony, explaining the 

 position of the United States Fishery Commission in this matter, and I 

 have no doubt you will be kept fully informed of the result of the ex- 

 periment through its several stages. I am happy to state that the ova 

 arrived to-day, and were packed in ice in the icehouse of the Zealandia 

 mail-steamer, which has been appropriated to its use. It is an iron air- 

 tight chamber on deck, and will suit admirably. It will not be dis- 



