Artuur.—On Fish Culture in New Zealand. 191 
the hatching than on the previous occasion, obtaining about 70 per cent. of 
live fish. These were distributed in eighteen different small streams, as well 
as in the three large rivers of this portion of the province. The native trout 
and eels are very plentiful in our rivers, and kawai ascend some six miles 
from the sea, making the natural enemies of the Salmonide, in their early 
stages of growth, masters of the situation. We do not, therefore, intend to 
relax our efforts in propagation, until we are certain that there are in the 
rivers such numbers of trout and salmon as will keep the native fish in 
check. 
‘So far as we can learn, the trout are the English lake trout * which 
attain a large size, but we are not able as yet to give any information as to 
the quality of the fish. 
‘‘ There is no portion of the colony so well watered in comparison with 
its extent as the plain of the Wairau, on which the chief town Blenheim is 
situated. The principal river is the Wairau ; besides there are the Opawa, 
Omaka, and Waihopai, all excellent trout streams, with innumerable moun- 
tain rivulets. In other valleys of the province are the Pelorus, in which 200 
trout and 200 American salmon have been placed. The head waters of the 
Awatere received 200; the river itself, from the large quantities of floating 
clay it holds in solution, not being considered suitable. Flaxburne, further 
south, received 300 ; besides these, there is the Clarence, a very rapid and 
large river, which we have not been able to reach as yet. The plain of the 
Wairau is a large alluvial deposit of about 120 square miles in extent. The 
portion adjacent to Cook Strait, about 80 square miles, is very flat and 
more or less subject to be flooded. Being only a few feet above sea-level, 
the river and its branch the Opawa, get backed up by the tide for a dis- 
tance of eight miles from the sea. This extent of water swarms with trout 
feed—large quantities of whitebait also ascend the rivers at the season in 
Which salmon would ascend for spawning. In fact the amount of feed is 
unlimited, and what is a danger now, will be of great benefit in the future, 
when we get trout and salmon well established. In the meantime the 
young fish run great risks, and hence our endeavours to place them in the 
mountain streams, where they will not run so much risk. We therefore 
intend to make an effort to procure ova every year, until complete success is 
ascertained. 
‘We hatched the ova in long narrow boxes, partially filled with clean 
Sravel and fed by an artesian well. To these was attached a long wooden 
tank, 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 8 feet deep. The water always remained 
uniformly cool and pure. We attribute the deaths (about thirty per cent. 
__ ” This is a mistake, the original ova were from tributaries of the Thames and from 
the Itchen.—w.A, 
