OXSTEB CULTUEE COMMISSION—MINUTES OP EVIDENCE. 
31 
969. But would the 50 acres be sufficient, supposing you had a long lease, and supposing you could build Mr, P. T. 
walls and make the improvements of which you have spoken? Well, no ; I think even with a long lease Johnson. 
I should require twice as much. 
970. How long would it take to make an oyster farm productive—to improve Jit so that you could get a ^ * 
return for your outlay ? I could not say. 
971. I think you stated that oysters are eatable when they are two years old ? Yes. If you had plenty 
of money to keep you for that time, I dare say that with 100 acres you might make a living out of it in a 
couple of years. 
972. Then a person with capital who went into oyster culture in a proper way could do well with 100 
acres ? Yes, I suppose so ; but not as I went to work, with nothing. 
973. In what condition was your ground when you went to it on the last occasion In a very good con¬ 
dition, the oysters growing very fast. 
974. Can you tell the Commission how many oysters you have got in the year from that 50 acres ? 'No, 
because if I send a man for oysters he gets some here and some there ; I could not tell you. 
975. You keep no account of them ? No, I have no occasion to do so. 
976. Then how do you know that it does not pay, when you do not know the number of oysters you get off 
the ground? Because there is not the quantity of oysters growing on it ; I know that when I take a 
bag off it. 
977. But you do not seem to know how many are growing on it ? I never took notice of the number. I 
judge by the look of the ground; it is only a small piece of ground, and if I took a load here and a load 
there from it I should very soon clear 50 acres, for they will not grow again where the ground is cleared. * 
978. Do you mean to say that they do not come there naturally ? They do not. 
979. But, if I understood you, you laid down oysters originally on this 50-acre block ? Yes, I put down 
shells and wood and bottles, and so on, to make a hard bottom for the oysters, but I could do no good with 
it; there w^as about 6 inches of mud. 
980. Well then, are there not places in the Shoalhaven or Crookhaven Bivers that are naturally suited to 
the cultivation of oysters without preparing the ground as you did your 60 acres ? Not to my knowledge. 
I know every inch of them. 
981. You spoke of some oysters you took from ujear the sea-coast which jou planted in beds on the 
Shoalhaven Biver. What age were they ? They had been there a number of years to my knowledge. 
982. How many years ? Eight years to my knowledge; they were there ou the very day I first went down 
there. 
983. Do you know from practical experience in oyster culture that the oyster is eatable at the age of two 
years ? I know they grow very quickly. 
984. At what age is the oyster fit for market? That depends upon the ground it is taken from. If it is 
taken from where there is a good running tide it is StS large as it will be at two years. 
985. Do you know at what age the oyster spawns ? I do not j I have heard a great many arguments on 
the subject, but I could never tell. 
986. Have you paid any particular attention to the habits of the oyster, or as to the quantity of spawn it 
throws out ? No, sir; all that I have paid attention to is the taking them up where they are thick and 
putting them down in the heaviest tide to grow and fatten. 
987. You stated that the young oysters will only attach themselves to one kind of timber~oak ? Yes. 
988. Will they not attach themselves to mangroves ? Yes, to live mangroves, but if you shake the man¬ 
groves they will all drop off. 
989. And they will not stick to any dead timber except oak ? No ; I have tried it so often. 
990. Do you know anything of the northern rivers ? Only the Clarence ; I was working on the Clarence 
when it was first opened. 
991. Do you know whether the oysters in the northern or southern rivers spawn first in the year ? I have 
seen on the Clarence that they were very poor in the month of March, and that they were fat in February ; 
the next month they were almost lilte a piece of black thread, they were scarcely any size. 
992. Does not that take place with all oysters after spawning? No, my deep-water oysters are fat all 
the year round. 
993. They are continually in season ? Oh, they must spawn, but they are saleable all the year round. 
994. Then do you mean to say that your oysters in the Shoalhaven Eiver are eatable all the year round, 
and that they spawn all the year round ? Yes, but they are fatter in the winter than in the summer. 
995. Would you know when an oyster has spawned ? I should not. 
906. Not whether it has spawned or not? No, I could never make that out, though I have heard a good 
deal said about it. I know I have been in the water and had my arms skimmed all over witli spat; but 
if you came and took every oyster off the rocks they would be covered again a week after. 
997. Tlie spawn you speak of was the spawn of rock-oysters ? Well, it is very hard to say where it comes 
from. 
998. Was it not in the vicinity of the rocks that you found it? Yes; I was getting rock-oysters at the 
time, but the spawn might have come down the bay. 
999. You have never seen any of the deep-water oysters spawn? No, I have not; but I never took 
notice of them. 
1000 . Now, what length of lease, at a nominal rental, do you think the Government ought to give to 
encourage the cultivation of oysters ? I think it should not be less than fifteen years. 
1001. I do not mean leases of the natural beds, but of portions of rivers on which oyster-beds could be 
made ? I think fifteen years would do. 
1002. Do I understand you to say that it would pay persons to take leases for that period and to lay down 
fascines, to build walls, and to make artificial beds ? Yes ; it would take a man about five years to improve 
the beds, and tlie other ten years would pay him. 
1003. And you think a fifteen-year lease would pay him, with the condition that at the expiration of that 
time ho should give up the ground in good condition — say the average condition of the previous five years ? 
Yes, I think fifteen years would pay him ; ten years would be too little. 
lOO'J. In what state are the natural beds now which you have improved ? In a very good state. Wlien I 
went down there the other day I was quite satisfied with them. 
1005. What are the banks of the Shodhaven Eiver which you lease composed of? Almost all mud and 
shells. 1006. 
