46 
OTSTEE CTTLTUEE COilMISSIOl^—MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 
Mr. W. J. IGOO. Wliat was the cause of that; did the floods kill thorn ? I cannot say ; tlicy had been dead for 
Langham. gQn^e time. I was told by a man there that ho had tried at different times within the last two years, and 
could not find any. 
ov., i . 2 ^ 02^0 there arc a p;ood many oysters on the rocks ? Tes. 
1611. Do you know Tilba Tilba Lake ? I have never been there. 
1612. Or to Towamba Lake ? Ko. 
1613. Then you can give us no personal information about them ? No. 
1614. Have you been to Jervis Bay? Yes; there are one or two small beds there, that is to say, in the 
creek that runs jnto tlie bay. 
1615. What are banks of Jervis Bay? Bock chiefly. 
1616. Are tliere many small oysters sticking to them ? Yes. 
1617. Is any one allowed to take these small oysters off the rocks ? No, not at present. 
1618. Or from any of the closed rivers, or from the rocks at Port Jackson ? No. 
1619. Would you consider it your duty to prosecute a person if j'ou saw him taking oysters off the 
rocks ? It would depend upon who he was ; if he were taking them for sale 1 should, but not ii it was 
a gentleman or any one at a picnic party for instance. My instructions arc not to prosecute in such 
cases. 
1620. Do you know Twofold Bay? Yes. 
1621. What arc the banks and beds there ? There is no river ; it is an open bay. 
1622. Are the banks rock or mud ? Bock and sea sand. 
1623. Are there many oysters sticking to the rocks ? No, not a great many now ; it is an open roadstead. 
1624. Twofold Bay is not celebrated for its oysters, is it ? No. 
1625. Now we come to Port Hacking: what are its banks composed of ? Chiefly rock. 
1626. And the bed of the river? AVhat I saw of it was rock and sand chiefly. 
1627. Have you ever been there at low tide ? Yes. 
1628. Did you see many oysters sticking to the sides of the rocks ? Yes, great quantities of tlicm. I 
think that Poi‘t Hacking, as a rule, is onl} a place for breeding spawn ; 1 never saw any oysters in deep 
Avater there. 
1629. And what is the extent, do you think, of Port Hacking, where there are so many oysters ? I should 
hardlj^ like to say ; it would only be a mere guess. 
1630. But there is an immense (juantity of spat there ? Yes. 
1631. AVl»ich is going to waste ? Yes, no use is made of it. 
1632. And it is a closed river ? Yes, it is closed to prevent persons from bringing oysters taken out of 
George’s Biver and other places under the pretence that they come from Port J lacking. 
1633. Then it is not closed for the protection of the oysters at Port Hacking? Partly it is, hut chiefly 
in order to prevent persons wlio Iiave neither lease nor license from stealing oysters and taking them 
into Sydney. 
1634. To protect tlie lessees. "Was it at tlieir request ? T believe so. 
1635. Do you know who applied to have it closed ? I tinnk Mr. Emerson was one of them ; the other 
lessees also complained of oysters being brought into Sydney. 
l(i3G. Erom Port Hacking ? No ; the j)tTsous who brought them in pretended that tlicy got them from 
Poi’t Hacking, but the oysters were not like any I have seen there. 
1637. Do you think it desirable to close a river for the protection of oyster beds in otlicr rivers ? Yes, 
at the present time when there is only one Inspector, and tlie law does not make any provision to compel 
persons to show' w'here they got the oysters from w'hich they bring into Sydney. You cannot charge a 
man Avith stealing them, although you know that he has no lease or other authority to take them. 
1638. But if you met a man bringing in oysters, you could not stop him AArithont some good reason ? Well, 
if a river is closed and you can prove that they come from that river, of course it is stealing. 
1639. Port Jackson, Middle Harbour,Lane Coa'c, and the Parramatta River ai*e all closed, are they not? 
les ; 1 think Mr. Josephson claims the frontage to his place in the Lane Coa'o Biver. 
IGtO. Will you describe those places. To begin Avith Port Jackson—are there many young oysters ontlic 
rocks in Port Jackson? Great quantities of them. 
1641. Is any use made of them ? Not at present. 
161*2. The Government make no use of them themselves, and Avill not alloAV any one else to do so ? No, 
not at ])resent. 
1643. What object haA*e they in closing these places ? It Avas done Avith tlie vicAV of prev'enting persons 
from stealing oysters out of the other portions of the rivers. Wlicn ticrsons Avere found Avith oysters in 
their boats they said they had got them from Bradley’s Hoad, Middle Harbour, and so on, and there 
Avas no means of proving AA'here they came from. 
1644. But on the Parramatta Biver there are only Iavo small leases. Is it desirable that the Avbolc of 
Port Jackson should be closed on account of those tAVO small leases ? It is not only for them, but for 
the protection of the other lessees. 
1645. To Avliom do you refer? To the lessees of other rivers, Avho complain that persons Avithout lease or 
license of any kind are bringing oysters into market and competing Avith them who arc paying a heavy 
rent for their rivers. 
1646. Noav, Mr. Langham, can you give the Commission any idea of the value of the oysters consumed 
in this Colony, and the value of those exported to Melbourne and elsewhere ? Erom the Avholo of the 
beds ? 
1647. From the Colony generally? About 750 bags, averagings bushels each per AA'cek, come into 
Sydney. Of this quantity about 400 bags go to Victoria, and of the total quantity (750 bags) about 150 
bags come from Queensland, leaving about 600 bags produced in this Colony. 
1648. You sliOAved us on a previous occasion some very small oysters AA'hich you bought in the shops. Are 
many of these very small oysters exported to Melbourne or elsewhere ? Yes ; not so many to Melbourne, 
because the Melbourne people don’t care about them—tliey won’t fetcli the price there ; the best oysters 
are generally sent to Melbounie. 
1649. Do you think it is desirable that sucli small oysters should be sold? No, I do not. 
1650. Do you think the sale of such oysters should bo prohibited by law ? Yes. 
1651. Can you offer any suggestion ats to the best Avay of bringing this about ? My idea would bo to have 
9 gauge, or Bomething of that sort. " 1652. 
I 
