984 REPORT OF COMMISSIONER OF FISH AND FISHERIES. 



very clear, cold water, and is one of the numerous head waters of the 

 river Thames, which is itself the beau ideal of a salmon river in every 

 respect, having abundance of shingle, rapids, deep holes, with bright, 

 cold water, and, after a course of about one hundred and fifty miles, 

 debouching into the sea at a fine, shallow, but extensive gulf called 

 ^'Hawraki." The point I selected on the "Eapurapa" was where a 

 small, low island afforded a branch about sixty feet long by fifteen feet 

 broad and two feet deep, running with a pleasant music and sparkling 

 motion over a shingle bed. At the upper point of the little island 1 

 made a breakwater of shingle rising two feet above water level, and 

 running across to the river bank. I constructed a similar breakwater at 

 the lowest point of the island to the bank, in this manner inclosing a 

 space sixty feet long by fifteen feet wide. Shading this little spot from 

 the sun's rays, I placed among the shingles, with the ready and skillful 

 help of the Maoris (the aboriginals of this country), about 36,000 ova, 

 which, though I had transported them a long distance over a somewhat 

 rough road, were in excellent condition. A few ova near the edge of 

 the original packages were just hatching out as I placed them in the 

 river. This location has been most successful. Two days after I depos- 

 ited them, three eels insinuated themselves into the inclosure; but my 

 Maori friends, faithfully carrying out the promise they made me to 

 watch closely for every enemy, whether eel, duck, shag, or kingfisher, 

 caught them at once, but not before they had swallowed some of the 

 ova. On cutting them open, they took out some ova which they put 

 again in the inclosure, and which have since hatched out. And by 

 way of "Mtw" or payment, as they term it, the Maoris immediately 

 cooked and ate the enemy, since when the place has not been molested. 

 Every duck or shag that made his appearance was at once shot by these 

 watchful guardians. You will be glad to learn that in this location the 

 success has been complete. As they absorbed the "sac," batches of 

 bright, strong young fish worked their way through the shingle barrier 

 and went up stream, and so on day after day, till now nearly all have 

 migrated from the hatching ground. 



The great success of this third location leads me to the conclusion, 

 that, where you can find a suitable and safe spot in the small shingle 

 streams forming the headwaters of the main rivers, it is much more ad- 

 vantageous to place the ova there, than in any more artificial hatching- 

 ground. 



Pardon this long account, with which I should not have presumed to 

 trouble you, unless Mr. Creighton had conveyed your request to me. 



I believe the localization both this year and last, of the salmon in this 

 colony to be completely successful, and for this great boon, filling as it 

 will, our beautiful but barren rivers with this most valuable fish, and 

 providing abundance of wholesome food for the present and coming gen- 

 erations — we have to thank the noble and disinterested generosity of 

 the United States people, who, by means of their Fish Commission, di- 



