— SS4 — 



President, Mr Fropier, with whom the Committee hfta 

 been plenstd to associato the Secretary. 



V/e will take the liherty of calling the particular 

 attention of Your Excellency to tlie section of History 

 and Literature lately added to the Sofinty. The op- 

 portunity now offers itself of granting rewards or me- 

 dals to those members who may d^'sewc them, for lite- 

 rary compositions, bistori-al fragments on Mauritius, 

 or scientific labours of merit and value recognized by 

 the Exiirainers. Rewarils received }>om the hanJs of 

 Your Excfllency would be esteemed as special fa» 

 vors by thos" to whom they were awar<ied. 



There fs another point, to which we wish respectfully" 

 to call Y'tur Excellency's attention and also the atten- 

 tion of the Society. 



The object of every Society instituted with the view 

 of public utility, is to see its theoretical ideas after- 

 wards called into practical operation. The question of 

 pisciculture has once or twice been mooted at our mnet- 

 ings. We should be glad to see it carried into practice 

 at Mauritius. 



Thanks to regular eommunicationg with Madagas- 

 car, an important Hrticle of food is retailed a' a suffi- 

 ciently moderate price to be within the reach of all 

 classes of our population with but rare exceptions : Not 

 so, anothpr article although abounding close to our 

 shores, we mean fish. 



Pisciculture has become a practical art in Europe;: 

 why should it not be the same here ? For our own 

 part, we know several persons who are williiig to es- 

 tablish along our coasts, ponds confining the waters of 

 the ocean, within limits secure enough, to bieed fish 

 in safety, and in sufficient quantiting to supply the po- 

 ptilation of the town which is increasing every year 

 with f^uch immense strides. 



The small fry, the spawn which Ts prematurely des- 

 troyed by vagabonds, would be carefully folded in a 

 kind o£farm yard. On the other hand, our rivers are 

 cleared of their fi«h and f'esh water fish is becoming 

 scarce. It would be interesting to introduce some 

 from the neighbouring countries, India and Madagas- 

 car for instance. It would therefore bo desirable that 



