982 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



official acknowledgment shall be sent to the Hon. Spencer F. Baird so 

 soon as we are able to report the hatching and turning out of the fish. 

 I can only add my own thanks to those of the Hawkes Bay Acclima- 

 tization Society. 



I have the honor to be, yours, respectfully, 



EOBT. P. R. DUFF. 

 Hon. Spencer F. Baird, 



United States Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, Washington, D. C. 



Colonial Museum, Wellington, New Zealand, 



December 13, 1876. 



My Dear Sir : I have to thank you for your note of 3d October, 

 and for the trouble you have taken in procuring the salmon ova for us. 

 You will be pleased to learn that the venture has been, as you pre- 

 dicted, a perfect success. About 90 per cent, of the ova have been 

 hatched. They have been divided among four different localities, from 

 one end of New Zealand to the other, and we must now have nearly 

 300,000 healthy fish. The 84,000 you sent to me were sent on to South- 

 land, where the best ponds are situated. They will be turned out in 

 some splendid rivers along with young Scotch salmon. I still require 

 a supply to stock the rivers on the west coast, and particularly the 

 large rivers that flow into the Fjords, where they should thrive well. 

 Government has authorized me to prepare to raise whitefish. The 

 sum of £800 has been voted this year for i^isclculture. I believe we 

 have to thank your strong expressions of interest for procuring this 

 vote. 



Hoping to hear soon from you, believe me, dear sir, I remain yours, 



THOMAS HECTOR. 



Auckland, New Zealand, December 16, 1876. 



Sir : In accordance with your wish (conveyed to me by my friend Mr. 

 Creighton), I avail myself of this opportunity to give you a short ac- 

 count of the results, so far, of the salmon ova which you, as chief of 

 the United States Fish Commission, so generously presented to this 

 colony. 



As I have already informed you, I forwarded, with fresh supplies of 

 ice, the various boxes of ova to Napier, Canterbury, and Wellington. 

 You will be pleased to learn that all these parcels arrived in excellent 

 condition at their respective destinations, and have all hatched out with 

 great success. 



I now come to the treatment and results of the salmon ova you kindly 

 fowarded to the Auckland Acclimatization Society. The rivers of this 

 colony are remarkably destitute of fish. Except five or six kinds, all, 

 either small or of little value either for sport or food, our rivers have no 



