58 



he had, at his own expense, kept hatcheries and fisheries, 

 which in almost every civilized country were carried on 

 by Government officials. If they were told that a person 

 who drew a fish out of the water was entitled to the thanks 

 of the community for adding to the food of the people, how 

 much more was he entitled to gratitude who spent his 

 time and money in increasing the number of young fish, 

 and so augmenting the food supply of the population at 

 large? Another question of some importance was this, 

 Whom had they to thank for the present condition of 

 fisheries ? Why those who made such large profits destroy- 

 ing the Salmon by polluting the rivers. If the legislature 

 permitted these things, surely it was bound to give some 

 assistance to fisheries by adding to the supply of young 

 fish, to make up for those that were destroyed. Sir James 

 Maitland was carrying out investigations which no doubt 

 would be of great benefit to fisheries ; he was trying 

 experiments on hybridisation of fish. With regard to 

 land-locked Salmon, it might or might not remain in the 

 upper waters of the river if there was no large lake to 

 which it could have access. Also the question arose, if you 

 crossed the Trout and the Salmon, whether the young 

 would be sterile, and if they could not breed, would they 

 develop the propensity of going down to the sea. If the fish 

 remained in the upper waters of upper riparian proprietors, 

 would they have the means of getting a breed of fish which 

 they could keep to some extent to themselves ? At present 

 the lower riparian proprietors on some rivers were catching 

 the largest proportion of the Salmon, whilst the upper 

 riparian proprietors were like clucking hens who were 

 hatching eggs and letting the fish down to destruction. 

 With reference to the acclimatization of fish, Sir James 

 Maitland had given a warning which ought to be taken 



