I40 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. XV. No. 369 



timore, the Eddy Company of Windsor, Conn. , the Jenney Com- 

 pany of Indianapolis, and the Rockford Electric Company. 

 Wires for electrical uses were showTi by the New York Insulated 

 Wire Company, the Edison Machine Company, the Electrical 

 Supply Company of Chicago, the India- Rubber and Gutta-Percha 

 Company and the Bishop Gutta-Peroha Company, the Ansonia 

 Brass and Copper Company, and the Okonite Company. There 

 was also a fine display of Grimshaw wire. Carbons were ex- 

 hibited by the Standard and the National carbon companies of 

 Cleveland, conduits for inside electric wiring were shown by 

 the Interior Conduit and Insulation Company of this city, and an 

 interesting exhibit of the new Edison-Lalande batteries was 

 made by the Edison Manufacturing Company of Newark. The 

 elements of this new battery are zinc, a caustic-potash solution, 

 and oxide of copper, the latter being made up in the form of a 

 plate and clamped in a copper frame. Tlie zinc plates are sus- 

 pended from a binding-post resting on the cover and hanging on 

 either side of the oxide plate. The caustic potash is furnished in 

 shape of sticks, two sticks accompanying each cell. These sticks 

 are placed on either side of the zinc, and the cell is filled with 

 water within an inch of the top, a thin layer of oil being then 

 poured over the top of the water in order to prevent foi^mation of 

 creeping salts. The internal resistance of the cell is only . 035 

 of an ohm. The electro-motive force on open circuit is about 

 one volt, .8 of a volt on light closed-circuit work, and about .7 

 .of a volt on heavy closed-circuit work. 



THE FISHERIES OF NEW ZEALAND. 



The colony of New Zealand is now celebrating its jubilee — 

 the jubilee of its separation from the ^parent colony of New 

 South Wales — by a series of demonstrations at Auckland, its 

 chief northern town, and by an intercolonial exhibition at 

 Dunedin, the southern metropolis. The latter town is barely 

 forty-two years old, its first settlers having landed from Scot- 

 land in March, 1848. It is therefore all the more remarkable 

 to find it now holding an exhibition which, alike by its size, 

 excellence of character, and the illustrative nature of its 

 exhibits, is attracting attention throughout Australasia and 

 Polynesia. 



The island colony has hitherto developed only two of her 

 .natural sources of wealth; namely, her mines and her agricul- 

 ture (including pastoral resources under this head) . Both, but 

 ■especially the former, are still capable of great extension and 

 improvement. The third great source to which we desire to 

 draw attention at present is that of her fisheries. These are 

 still almost totally undeveloped, but in time to come they will 

 certainly occupy a very important position. In the Dunedin 

 exhibition there is a very fine display of the mineral, agricul- 

 tural, and pastoral wealth of the colony, while the fisheries 

 are almost unrepresented. There are no doubt many hundreds 

 of individuals dependent on the industry for their daily bread ; 

 but, while the amount of capital invested in agriculture and 

 mines amounts to millions of dollars, that engaged in the 

 fisheries can only be counted by thousands. The promoters of 

 the exhibition obtained almost no response from those occupied 

 in the fishing industry, few of them being able, or finding it 

 to their advantage, to figure as exhibiters. As population 

 increases and means of transit are]improved, this state of affairs 

 gives promise of being altered. 



A glance at a map of Australasia shows, that while Australia 

 has a great area of land as compared to her coast-line. New 

 Zealand, on the other hand, reverses these conditions. Her 

 coast-line extends to about 5,300 miles, and is indented by 

 numerous deep bays, fiords, and estuaries. At all seasons of 

 the year the seas round her coasts literally swarm with fish, 

 most of them of excellent quality, and many very suitable 

 for canning or curing. In past days New Zealand was noted 

 for her whale and seal fisheries, and American vessels reaped a 

 very considerable share of the maritime harvest ; but indiscrim- 

 inate fishing has nearly exterminated these animals in the 

 local waters, and the enterprise now rarely proves remunerative. 



Hitherto very little organized effort has been put forth to 

 develop the fishing industry; but very recently the freezing of 

 fish for the Melbourne and Sydney markets, and the sending 

 over of fresh fish in ice, are both being tried with great promise 

 of success. The appliances in use are still very primitive, 

 small open boats with seine fishing-nets being used in most 

 parts. Only in a few localities are there trawlers or well-boats. 

 Therefore the fishing is limited to inshore work, and is largely 

 conditioned by the weather. Very little is known of the ocean- 

 currents and of their variations of temperature ; yet, from what 

 little has hitherto been learned of the distribution of the 

 various species of fish, the latter seems to depend to a con- 

 siderable extent upon the former. Still less is known as to the 

 development and life-history of the fish themselves. When it 

 is remembered that important questions of this nature have 

 only of very late years received attention from the scientific 

 men and the governments of the oldest and wealthiest countries, 

 it is not to be wondered at if the government of one of the 

 youngest communities of the world has not yet found time or 

 means to do any thing in this direction. The Marine Depart- 

 ment has done a little, by way of commencement, in obtaining 

 regular records from the lighthouse-keepers round the coast; 

 but as none of these men are trained observers, and many of 

 them are totally ignorant of the subject, the results, except in 

 a few instances, have not been satisfactory. 



The trade returns of the colony give no information as to the 

 value of the fish taken for home consumption, but the export 

 and import returns show that the local supply is still barely 

 equal to the demand. During the six years ending 1885, the 

 colony imported fish (dried, pickled, salted, potted, and pre- 

 served) to the value of £253,000, on which the government 

 levied £31,887 as duty. During the same period the export 

 only reached £8,031. In 1888 the imports were as follows: 

 dried, pickled, and salted fish, to the value of £6,006, chiefly 

 from Great Britain; and potted and preserved fish, to the 

 value of £22,361, from Great Britain and the west coast of the 

 United States. On these two items the government realized a 

 duty of £6,063. The value of fish exported during 1888 was 

 £7,450. This is exclusive of the oyster-fishery returns. The 

 export of these moUusks in 1888 was valued at £11,927. 

 These figures show that the outside trade in fish is still in its 

 infancy, and is capable of immense extension. The number of 

 species of marine fish already described as occurring in the 

 coastal waters of New Zealand is close on two hundred ; and of 

 this number, over thirty are used as food, and appear in 

 the markets. Many are locally called by names familiar to the 

 settlers who emigrated from Britain, as, for example, cod, 

 haddock, perch, etc. ; and the general facies of the fishes of New 

 Zealand is similar to that of the northern hemisphere. More 

 than one-half of the described species are peculiar to the New 

 Zealand seas, but a large percentage, including many pelagic 

 forms, are common to Australasian waters. 



One of the most valuable and abundant food-fishes of the 

 colony is the hapuka or groper {Oligoms gigas) , which is taken 

 with bait all round the coast in from twenty to fifty fathoms. 

 It is a big heavy fish, sometimes nearly six feet long, and 

 varying in weight from forty to one hundred and twenty 

 pounds. Its flesh is very solid and rather coarse, but admirably 

 adapted for curing. 



The kahawai {Ani-pis salar) is another abundant fish, espe- 

 cially in the northern portion of the colony. It appears to be 

 migratory, swarming in the warmer seas during the summer 

 months, but avoiding the cold southerly current which washes 

 the southern and south-eastern coasts of the South Island. It 

 is a handsome fish, somewhat resembling a small salmon in 

 appearance, and running from two to seven pounds in weight. 

 It is a capital fish for sport, and takes the fly or spoon-bait 

 readily. The Maoris used to catch it by a bit of pawa-shell 

 (Haliotis iris), the bright iridescent hues of which, when 

 drawn rapidly through the water, gave the appearance of a fish 

 swimming quickly. The writer has caught it in the Bay of 

 Islands with such a bait, towing behind a yacht which was 

 scudding along in a half -gale at twelve knots an hour. The 



