KNOWLEDGE. 



November, 1912. 



Iif,i,'inniii},' of the »'X|HTiinent could liav<' hfcii pro- 

 ilucfii in tlu' tank. I lean to the view that this is 

 unhkely, and tliaf these young oysters, whatever they 

 were, had been introduced with the water. 



Tlie experiments liave for the present been aban- 

 doned. l'|> to date they have cost ^^"6,800, not 

 taking into account the personal services of Mr. 

 Haynes. 



The weak point in this work was that it was 

 carried on without scientific assistance. While in a 

 great many cases a scientific man, expected to under- 

 take constructive work and to initiate operations on 

 business lines, fails through lack of previous experi- 

 ence and business instinct, there can he no question 

 that in a case like this, where initiative and resource- 

 fulness, faith in the practicability of the enterjirise, 

 and practical and business knowledge were possessed 

 in a marked degree by Mr. Haynes, the advice of a 

 naturalist, concentrating his work on the practical 

 [>roblems which presented themselves, and refraining 

 from dissipating his energy over the intensely 

 fascinating field presented by an unworked tropical 

 fauna, might have made all the difference. Indeed, 

 I have often said to my friend Mr. Haynes that, had 

 he and I had the luck to meet some eleven or twelve 

 years ago, when I was in a position to undertake 

 work pf this kind, we should probabh- both have 

 made our fortunes by now : or, if, as is so often the 

 case, the originators of the enterprise had been 

 " frozen out " and left stranded by the financial 

 gentlemen who generall\- step in at a later stage, we 

 should have, at any rate, the satisfaction of feeling 

 that our names would go down to posterity as the 

 founders of a new industr\'. 



Other enterprises have been started in Australia, 

 at Beagle Hay and elsewhere : but the\- have been 

 largely empirical and are thus outside the scope of 

 this paper. 



(7) Transplantation ov thk .Ai-stkai-ian 



Mothek-of-Pi:arl Ovsticks (.U. maxima) 



TO THE Pacific. 



A few years ago a Frenchman took about one 

 hundred live mother-of-pearl oysters from Torres 

 Straits to Noumea: but I have no knowledge what 

 became of these. 



In the year 1904 Levers Facilic Plantations, Ltd. 

 (to which Company I am indebted for much of this 

 information) engaged Mr. Saville-Kent and trans- 

 planted fifteen hundred examples of M. maxima from 

 Torres Straits to Suwarrow Island, a distance of 

 about three thousand miles. The transport was 

 carried out successfully, only a small percentage 

 being lost. The oysters were laid down in the 

 lagoon at Suwarrow, which already contained the 

 black-lipped species. The Secretary to the Com- 

 pany informs me that the oysters did not become 

 acclimatised or increase, but gradually died out. 

 Large quantities of small shell were reported as 

 growing on the marine grasses at Suwarrow, but 

 these proved to be a worthless kind, and not the 

 young of the introduced oysters. 



The failure of this experiment was only to be 

 expected, and serves to confirm the ccjnclusions I 

 arrived at after my experiments in l.S9'J-1900 at the 

 Conflict .\toll, that this species cannot profitably be 

 introduced into atoll lagoons far from land or river 

 influences. 



Hesides these actual experiments in the acclimatis- 

 ation of this species outside its natural haunts, 

 various [proposals have been made, casual 1_\- or 

 Seriously. It is obvious that, if such a valuable 

 animal as .1/. maxima could be introduced into a 

 locality where it would become acclimatised and re- 

 produce, it might become a very imi)ortant new- 

 asset. There is no reason wh\- there sliould not be 

 localities where this species is not native, that 

 possess the necessary conditions to enable it to be 

 established. But, in view of the very special 

 characters of its natural haunts, it would be 

 necessary to treat such proposals w ith great caution. 

 It appears from Mr. Haynes" report, referred to 

 above, that at one time Mr. Crossland contem- 

 plated the introduction of twenty thousand West 

 .\ustralian mother-of-pearl oysters into the Red Sea. 

 I think, however, that it is very doubtful whether 

 this species would live in the Red Sea. where the 

 densit}- and salinity of the water are much higher 

 than on its native grounds. 



I understand that the introduction of this species 

 into the W'est Indies has also been suggested : but it 

 is to be hoped that before expenditure is incurred 

 steps will be taken to obtain advice from someone 

 competent to speak on the matter. The question 

 of its introduction into Ceylon has also been 

 discussed : hut nothing has come of it. 



When one considers the enormous jiotential asset 

 that the mother-of-pearl fisheries are to .Australia, 

 scattered as they are all along her most vulnerable 

 side, the North and North-West coasts, one is 

 impelled to ask wh}- more has not been done to 

 develop them on lines which would result in the 

 establishment of a permanent white man's industry. 

 In the early days some of these grounds were 

 enormously rich, carrying shell to the value of 

 thousands of pounds to the square mile. These 

 grounds have now been denuded, and fleets and 

 vested interests, valued at hundreds of thousands of 

 pounds, have been built up out of the proceeds oi the 

 ex[)loitation of this natural wealth. The industry is 

 now languishing, and is merely an asset for the 

 Japanese and other aliens, save for a margin of 

 [)rofit made b\- the Puropcans. who still finance 

 and nominalK' control it. 



One cannot but ask why .Australian statesmen, so 

 far-seeing where other kindred matters of policy are 

 concerned, have not yet seriously invoked the aid of 

 science. I think the reasons are probably twofold. 

 I'irstlv, there is the effect such a change would have 

 on existing vested interests. There can be no 

 denying that any attempt to initiate conservation 

 and cultivation would be most unwelcome to the 

 present fleet owners, as it would certainly entail the 



