NATAL'S EARLY TROUT 235 



consulted Sir James Maitland. Another ten 

 thousand trout ova were most kindly sent. 

 Complete failure had to be recorded this time. 



But the determined Yorkshireman does not 

 accept as final a preliminary set-back. In his 

 lexicon there is no such word as "fail." Mr. 

 Parker induced the Natal Government to take 

 an interest in the possibilities of trout acclimatiza- 

 tion, and in 1889 they made a grant of ^500 in 

 this direction. A committee was appointed, and 

 a site for the official hatchery was selected on a 

 farm between Balgowan and Lidgetton. The 

 hatchery box and filters, copied from the designs 

 in Sir James Maitland's " History of Howietoun," 

 were erected under Mr. Parker's superintendence. 

 The first ova under the Government regime arrived 

 in 1890, and between then and 1893 a number of 

 trout were reared and distributed in various Natal 

 rivers. Not satisfied, however, that the venture 

 justified further outlay, the Natal Government 

 stopped their grant in 1893. But Mr. Parker 

 did not abandon hope, and in 1899 a cheering 

 discovery was made. In some of the rivers, in 

 which distributions had been placed between 1890 

 and 1893, trout were thriving ! 



The number (9098, to be exact) of young 

 trout distributed in Natal rivers between 1890 

 and 1893 formed the basis of trout acclimatization 

 in Natal. More distributions were subsequently 

 made, but in point of fact the observed results of 

 those 9098 young trout induced the Natal 

 Government, even though they had temporarily 



