An Angler's Paradise. 7 
this small stock a beginning was made, and there seems to be 
little doubt that from these eggs trout originated in New Zealand. 
So successful was the work carried on there, that the New Zealand 
Government very wisely took it in hand, and the result was a con- 
siderable importation of ova into the colony, the Solway Fishery 
having had the honour of furnishing some of these. It is largely 
owing to the work of the Acclimatization Societies, however, that 
the fish-cultural work so wisely fostered by the Government has 
prospered. 
In order to.shew the difficulties under which it was carried 
on in the early days of its history, I quote the following from the 
Lyttelton Times, N.Z., regarding a consignment of ova received in 
1873, and shipped by Mr. Frank Buckland :— 
“The first of the consignment for Otago proved to be 
entirely bad when opened, and the second was very little better. 
But very few fish indeed were hatched out in Otago, and after 
being liberated in the rivers nothing more was heard of them 
whilst Mr. Johnson failed to bring any of the five or six thousand 
presented to this province to life. The ova on this occasion was 
obtained to the order of the General Government, from the Stor- 
montfield hatching establishment on the Tay, Scotland. Having 
been placed in boxes containing a few hundred each, they were 
conveyed to London; each parcel was supported the whole 
distance by hand in order to prevent jar. An icehouse for the 
reception of the ova had been constructed in the forehold of the 
vessel, and about twenty tons of ice were used in packing around 
the boxes. ‘The voyage occupied a hundred days. The curators 
of the Canterbury and Invercargill Society lost no time in going 
on board, where they succeeded in making arrangements for 
getting the ova out on the following day. The Invercargill ova 
were placed in a large case and covered with ice and straw, whilst 
cases about four feet by three feet, and three feet deep, had been 
made for the Canterbury portion of the shipment, each case being 
lined with zinc, over which was a coating of flannel to prevent the 
ice melting. 
“The ova boxes were fixed in tight with horse-hair and ice, 
added to which the cases containing the boxes were covered on 
the outside with matting, so as to resist the power of the sun. 
