THE CALIFORNIAN SALMON. 
67 
colonies join in the proposed undertaking, and the experi- 
ment prove to be successful, each would derive a pretty 
equal share of the benefit. South Australia would have 
the fishing at the mouth of the Murray, where the salmon 
would be caught in the best condition, and Victoria and 
New South Wales would benefit pretty equally on each 
bank of the river ; while the fishing in the Murrumbidgee 
on one side of the border would balance that in the Goul- 
burn on the other. Should the Darling waters become 
stocked with this fish, the preponderance of advantages 
would rest with New South Wales. 
If this proposal should be adopted no time should be lost, 
as from the present abundance of fish in the Sacramento 
river, ova can be procured in any quantity, and the United 
States Fisheries Commission are most ready and willing to 
share with other nations the immense advantages which 
they enjoy, in the abundance of fish of the best kinds with 
which their lakes and rivers are stocked. Should the fish 
soon become scarce, which is very probable, and the 
Fisheries Commission be obliged to retain all the ova pro- 
curable for increasing the supply in their own rivers, it is 
possible that great difficulty might be experienced in ob- 
taining a large quantity of ova for a purpose of this kind. 
But, it may be said, why not wait the result of the late 
experiment, and if the Californian salmon succeeds in 
Victorian rivers, ova can be obtained to stock the Murray, 
Murrumbidgee and Groulburn ? To this argument I would 
reply that life is too short, the time to wait is too long, 
and that even should the Californian salmon prove as 
successful here as we could expect it to be, ova could not 
be obtained easier or at less cost, than they now can from 
California. The fact of this fish having been so very success- 
ful so far, is an assurance that the money to be expended 
in the proposed undertaking would not be thrown away. 
E 2 
