THE AORICULTUR A L ./ U R N A L. 



117 



Hislory of introduction of Trout into Nataim 



15y John C. Parker. 



MR. JOHN C. PARKER, Tetworth, 

 Curry's Post, in his letter to the 

 Minister of Agriculture, requesting the 

 transmission to Dr. Gilchrist, the Cape 

 Biologist, of the following report on the 

 introduction of trout into Natal, remarks : 

 " When Dr. Gilchrist was in Natal re- 

 cently he asked me to put in writing for 

 him what I know of the introduction of 

 trout into this Colony. 



" The I'ecords of the committee for in- 

 troduction of trout and salmon were 

 burnt in the Town Hall when it was 

 destroyed by fire ; and the information 

 enclosed herewith is taken from the note 

 books I kept at the time for my own use. 

 The record is incomplete as the note book 

 for 1892 cannot be found." 



In 1882 having seen most of the rivers 

 flowing through the Midlands of Natal 

 and from the Drakensberg Range, and 

 thinking from their appearance that they 

 would be suitable for trout, I wrote to 

 the Editor of the Field asking him how I 

 should proceed, in endeavouring to intro- 

 duce trout in the Colony. 



My letter was handed to the late Mr. 

 Buckland, who sent it on to Sir James 

 Maitland, owner of the Howictown 

 fishery. 



Sir James Maitland wrote, making me 

 an offer of ten thousand trout ova. The 

 Castle Line of steamers brought them to 

 Natal gratis, and the Natal Government 

 Railways carried them to Pietermaritz- 

 burg free of charge. Every facility was 

 given me to enable me to reach my des- 

 tination 13 miles north of Howick. The 

 railway at that time terminated at Pieter- 

 maritzburg, and the late Mr. Wm. Doig, 

 of the Crown Hotel, lent me his omnibus 

 to bring the eggs up to Tetworth. 



The voyage between England and Dur- 

 ban in 1882 was longer than it is now, 

 and with a land journey of 30 miles at 

 the end of it from Maritzburg the chances 

 of success were small. 



The result was that out of 10,000 ova 

 only 18 eggs hatched out ; these alevins 

 were so weak that they only lived a few 

 days. 



On Sir James Maitland learning all the 

 facts of the case he advised me to try 

 again, and once more, in 1883, sent me 

 another lot of 10,000 ova ; but these 

 fared no better than their predecessors. 



In 188'.', Mr. Cecil Yonge, member for 

 Pietermaritzburg County applied for and 

 obtained a grant of £500 for the introduc- 

 tion 0*" trout and salmon. A committee 

 of three (C. A. S. Yonge, Esq., M.L.C., 

 Lt.-Col. Henry Vaughan, R.A., and J. C. 

 Parker) was appointed to carry out the 

 work. 



The site selected was on the farm Bosch- 

 fonteiu, belonging to M. Hutchinson, 

 Esq., five minutes' walk from the railway, 

 between Balgowan and Lidgetton Stations 

 on the N.G.R. The stream used for 

 the hatching boxes takes its rise in the 

 bush, is fairly clean, and has a tempera- 

 ture varying from .56 degrees to 64 de- 

 grees. 



The hatching boxes and filters were 

 copied from the designs given in Sir 

 James Maitland's " History of Howic- 

 town " 



David Hunter, Esq., General Manager, 

 Natal Government Railways ordered a 

 short platform to be erected at Hutchin- 

 son's Crossing, at which any trains might 

 be stopped in the service of the hatcheries 

 — the mail train excepted. 



Ova imported. (Supplied by Mr. 

 Armistead, Dumfries) : — 



S.Fario. FontinaUs. L.Leven. S.Salar. 



1890 20,000 ... 10,000 



1891 35,000 nO,000 40,000 25,000 



1892 50,000 25,000 75,000 25,000 



Expenditure in connection with the 

 introduction of trout and salmon into 

 Natal : — 



£ s. d. 



February, 1890, to 30th June, 1890 438 8 5 

 1st July, 1890, to 30th June, 1891 498 10 1 

 1st July, 1891, to 30th June, 1892 340 7 8 

 1st July, 1892, to 30th June, 1893 57 3 6 



£1,334 9 8 



* A present from Mr. Armistead. 

 The first ova arrived at the hatcheries 

 on March 8th, 1890. They began hatch- 



