Arthur. — On Fish Culture in New Zealand. l9l 



the hatching than on the previous occasion, obtaining about 70 per cent, of 

 live fish. Tliese 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 kaivai ascend some six miles 

 from the sea, making the natural enemies of the Sabnonidce, 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 

 gravel and fed by an artesian weU. To these was attached a long wooden 

 tank, 10 feet long, 4 feet wide, and 3 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 Itohen.— W.A. 



