NEW ZEALAND AS A FISHING GROUND 387 



principal or head agent of the New Zealand Government 

 Tourist Department, and as such he arranged a system 

 of pounds in each of the larger rivers running into Rotorua, 

 and all those fish taken in these pounds, which presented 

 a kelt-like or diseased appearance were killed and used 

 as manure, the healthy fish alone being allowed to live. 

 By this means the size and quality of the fish during the last 

 five or six years has considerably improved, and the kelt- 

 like trout have practically disappeared. Plentiful as is the 

 supply of natural bait in these waters, yet it may not have 

 been sufficient to provide food for the immense numbers 

 of rainbow trout which have thronged these lakes. I think 

 also that the temporary falling off in the weight and 

 condition of the trout in Rotorua may be due to the effect 

 of the sulphur springs. 



It is well to remember that in all volcanic regions, the seis- 

 matic disturbances are the pulses which indicate the vital 

 energy of the moment pulses which beat, therefore, with 

 intermittent force, and consequently the amount of sulphur 

 which these volcanic agencies send to the surface of 

 these lakes may undoubtedly have been greater during 

 the one, two or three years, in which the condition of the 

 trout suffered, than during the preceding or succeeding one, 

 two or three years. This, then, may have been the factor 

 which caused the temporary deterioration in the condition 

 of the rainbow and brown trout with which the rivers and 

 lakes of Rotorua were supplied. Quite apart from the 

 scientific aspect of the illness which attacked the trout of 

 Rotorua is the report of all fishermen that the trout which 

 presented the kelt-like appearance were more or less affected 

 by a species of worm. As worms are common among English 

 trout in certain seasons of the year, this may have been only 

 applicable to certain meteorological conditions of New 

 Zealand. Rotorua was the first place where the rainbow 



