02 
OTSTEB CULTtTEE COMMISSION—MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 
J 
Mr. P. T. 1006. Wliat do the oysters stick to ? They stick to the cobbler’s pegs—the roots of the mangroves. 
Joliusou- 2007. Do you see any objection to the granting of licenses—at the expiration of the present leases to men 
who would employ themselves with their families in getting these oysters off the cobblers pegs or rocks 
J7J^ov.,l876. gQjjg have layings such as your 50 acres. Don’t you think it would give 
remunerative and constant employment to a number of families ? I think that if the rivers are leased as 
they are at present there will be no oysters on the rocks at all soon. t i. c 
1008. You do not use all the oysters on these cobbler’s pegs, do you ? Yes; the large ones 1 make use oi, 
and the young ones I put back and spread out on the flats to make beds of, to harden the ground. ^ 
1009. But you must bo aware that there are a great number of spat going to waste, especially in iort 
Jackson for scores of miles, and up the Parramatta Jliver you can see the rocks literally plastered with 
oysters ? Yes, they want knocking off; they will never be any good if they are left wh^e they are. 
1010. Well, do you see any objection to the issue of licenses to persons to knock them ofl and sell ^lem to 
persons who would lay them down to grow and fatten? Ko, I see no objection; I think it is the best 
thing that could be done. , , j xi • c -t 
1011. You think it would create profitable emploraent for industrious labouring men and their tamilies, 
besides being profitable to those who purchased them in order to plant them to grow and fatten . xes, 1 
do ; because the longer they are left the more bunchy they get. 
1012. Would you be inclined to purchase them ? I have more than I can make use ot. 
1013. Then those which you cannot use are going to waste ? No, they remain there till they are wanted; 
it would be impossible for any one to keep them down altogether, they accumulate so fast. 
# - -- - 
IMr. Henry Wallace Beil called in and further examined:— 
3Ir. H. W. 1014. Chairman,'] I understand that you have some additional evidence to give, Mr. Bell ? Yes, with 
Beli. ' regard to the oyster beds of Victoria and Tasmania. 
/—1015. You have bad some experience in Victoria then ? Yes. 
17 Nov., 1876. 1016. In what part of Victoria? At Western Port and Port Albert. , . j . , 
1017. AVhat was the result of your experience ? Well, we have been charged with having destroyed the 
oyster beds by overdredging, and I wish to remove that impression. • j. /* i 
1018. Whom do you mean bywe " ? The firm I am connected with, who are proprietors ot a largo 
number of oyster beds. ot- 
1019 . You mean at those two places, Western Port and Port Albert? Yes. 
1020. And is not that the fact? No doubt the beds were overdredged to a certain extent; but we took up 
ground at Western Port under the Victorian Act, and stocked it with ware, and the whole of it—some 
£3,000 worth—was destroyed where we never used a dredge at all, except perhaps occasionally, to see how 
the beds were looking. . 
1021. "What was it that destroyed the oysters ? That is what we could never arrive at. 
1022. Was it some sudden influx of sand ? No, it was nothing of that sort. We attributed it to some 
sort of disease; and we based our opinion upon the fact that a number of small patches of oysters—natural 
beds — that we did not dredge, except very slightly, were also destroyed at the same time in different parts 
of the bay. . , , , , i j • xi, u 
1023. You think it was not from overdredging then, and that if there had been no dredging they would 
still have been destroyed ? Yes, because the oysters died on the natural beds as well as on the artificial 
beds, and on those which were never dredged at all. I may mention that there is a very bad practice 
carried out hero in dredging. It seems to bo the custom here to take up a boat-load of oysters, young 
and old, and to carry it away and sort it elsewhere. All the cultch, except the oysters required for use, 
is then thrown away, and used for limo-buming or other purposes. . i -x 
1024. Where is that done ? It used to be done in all the leased rivers; we have prevented it as much as 
we could, but it has been the case in many places: all the cultch has been removed. 
1025. Is there anything else you wish to say ? No, I think not. 
1026. Mr, Farnell.] You say the oystermen take the cultch away to some other place. Do you thmk 
they ought to sort the dredgings on the spot ? Yes ; it ought to be made compulsory to throw everthing 
back from the boat. That is what they do in Victoria; but there they adopt a difibront system altogether. 
1027. Are there no good oyster beds left in A^'ictoria, that you are aware of? Not one that I am 
aware of. . i i o -r- i 
1028. Then A^'ictoria is dependent upon New South Wales and South Australia for her supply ? les, and 
Queensland. 
1029. And in Tasmania the beds are exhausted also? I think so. 
1030. AVero they very extensive in Tasmania ? Yes, in Spring Bay. 
1031. They were exported to Victoria in large quantities during the gold discoveries, were they not, and 
the beds were overdredgod during that time ? I do not think so. We only traded for them in 1861 and 
1862. I think it must have been some other cause. 
1032. Jlon, J. B. Wilson,] Did the oyster beds at AVestern Port and Port Albert fall away at the same 
time? Yes, about the same period. . ,r. , - x xi x* • 
1033. AVer© there any symptoms of the disappearance of oysters in A^ictoria at the same time in any 
other place ? I do not know of any other place where oysters are procurable. 
1034 Then you think the disease, if any, was confined to those two iflaces ? Yes. 
1035 ! You are lessee of the Tuross Eiver and Brow Lake, are you not ? Yes. 
1036. Arc you personally acquainted with the place ? Yes. , vi. x 
1037 Do you not think there is a considerable quantity of low-lying mangrove land, covered with water 
at high tide, that would bo suitable for oyster cultivation—for making beds ? I do not know of any. 
1038 Is there not a considerable quantity of low-lying land on the Tuross Eiver? I believe so, on the 
right hand side. . , 1 n x o 
1039. Do you think it so situated that it could bo used for that purpose ? 
mud on it. _ , i /. • i • 1 o 
1040. Could not that be overcome by laying doym cultch of various kinds ?-- ....... 
1041. Are you aware that these artificial beds have been tried in other parts of the Colony Md have 
proved a success ? I am not aware of it; my greatest objection is, that the rise and fall of the tide is not 
sufficient in the Tuross Eiver. 
1042. 
I do not; there is too much 
I do not think so. 
