50 
OXSTEB CULTUBE COMMISSION—MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 
Hr. J. Knight. 1751. Tell iis whafc process you would adopt, first in breeding, and then in growing and fattening the 
oysters ? I should throw down a quantiiy of stones for the spat to adhere to, and as soon as they were 
1 Dec., 1676. sufficiently largo I should remove them to a certain locality wnere they would grow and get larger. 
1752. Now with respect to the parent oysters—Would you think it necessary to lay down any fiiU-grown 
oysters to provide spat, or are there a sufficient number of parent oysters in the rivers to furnish spat ? 
No, I don’t think there are, sir. 
1753. Have you any idea how you would place the stones you laid down. '\rouId it be necessary to con¬ 
struct a wall—a low wall—with them ? No ; I would put down a number of rough stones so as to make 
a foundation, because spat will not adhere to a stone unless it is perfectly fixed. When the spat is 
ejected from the parent oyster it is something like a jelly, and it adheres to the first object it comes in 
contact with which is secure. 
1754. Then you would secure the spat in this manner, and you would remove it from the stones and lay 
it down to grow and fatten ? Yes. 
1755. At what age would you remove the young oysters ? I should think it would be fifteen or eighteen 
months before they could be removed. 
1756. And you would knock them ofE the stones ? Yes ; I would take the stones that were most easy to 
remove without injuring the oysters. 
1757. And what soil would you lay them down on ? On the ground prepared for them. 
1758. What kind of floor would yon make ? I would make the very firmest floor I could make. 
1759. Do not oyster shells make a good floor? Yes, oyster shells make as good a floor as possible. 
1760. You would lay them on the mud ? Well, you see, if there is too much mud they get covered over ; 
oysters want a permanent floor. 
1761. And do you think that from 1 acre of land you would be able to produce a large quantity of young 
oysters and to grow and fatten them, if you were protected from oyster thieves ? Yes ; I believe that an 
acre properly cultivated would be quite enough. Better farm a little farm weU than a large one and not 
halE farm it; oysters require a great deal of attention. 
1762. What rent do you think should he paid to the Grovernment for an acre of ground ? WeU, I could 
not form an idea of that. 
1763. But you gave evidence on that point before a Committee of the Legislative Assembly in 1867. 
You said that after the first three years a man would be able to pay £2 10s. to £3 au acre ? Yea. 
1764. Now do you think that from this acre of ground you would be able to make a good living after 
the first three years ? Yes, I think so. 
1765. And pay £2 lOs. to £3 a year rent? Yes. 
1766. Have you ever made any calculation or estimate of the quantity of fat marketable oysters you 
would be able to produce ? No, I have not, sir. 
1767. Then how nave you arrived at the conclusion that you could make a good living out of an acre of 
ground ? By practical experience and from localities I have visited where I have found abundance 
of oysters. I believe by cultivating them you could get them equally plentiful or more so than in their 
natural position. 
1768. I do not doubt that you would be able to carry out all you say, but I should like the public to know 
the data on which you found your opinion. If I understand you rightly, you have arrived at this 
conclusion without calculating numbers, solely from what you have seen on an acre of natural oyster beds ? 
Yes, that is what it is—from personal experience. 
1769. And you are as confident in your own mind that you could make a comfortable living from one acre 
as if you had counted the oysters and sold them ? Yes, I am certain of it. 
1770. Are there any rocks where you have been employed ? Yes; it is a kind of sandy debris, consisting 
of small portions of rock, and some portions of it are very fine and will cover up the oysters in their 
natural state. 
1771. Yes, but what I want to know is—are there any rocks or mangroves for the oysters to attach them¬ 
selves to ? There are pieces of rock to which the oysters attach themselves, and the tide carries them 
down, so that they form natural oyster beds, which become as hard as solid rock in certain places. 
1772. Do you think it would bo necessary to set apart a portion of your land—supposing you would beat 
liberty to select it where you liked—for breeding, since there are such large quantities of spat sticking to 
the rocks and mangroves. Do you think you would be able to breed a better class of oysters fi'om the stones 
you laid down ? Yes, I believe that by cultivation they improve wonderfully, both in size and flavour and 
everything else. 
1773. Have you not seen in other rivers and in Port Jackson that the rocky banks are literally plastered 
with young oysters ? Yes, I have seen tliem adhering to the rocks. 
1774. Well, if you were allowed to get these spat and transplant them to your own fattening ground with 
a bottom prepared as you described it, would not that economize your operations in oyster culture to a 
considerable extent ? W^ell, I think there would be a difficulty in procuring these small oysters from the 
rocks without injuring them. A portion of the shell is apt to be split in taking them off ; the least thing, 
even the point of a pin, will destroy them. They adhere so closely that it is a difficult job to get them 
off until they become adult. 
1775. But don’t you propose to take spat yourself from stones in your prepared bed ? Yes. 
1776. Would you not have the same difficulty in removing them from the stones as you would from the 
rocks? No, because the stones would bo easily taken up and removed, and it would be more convenient 
to get the oysters off small pieces of stone laid down expressly for the purpose. 
1777. But don’t you think it would be easy to get the oysters from the rocks with a clusel and mallet ? 
I should get them in the best way I could. 
1778. Then supposing you got the young oysters off the rocks tb which they adhere to an enormous extent, 
would not that be a great saving to you in yonr oyster culture ? Oh yes, I should certainly get as many 
as I possibly could, and use my best endeavours to procure them without injury. 
1779. Would not those oysters be equally as good as those which you could raise yourself. I mean 
would not the oysters taken from the rocks be as good as those taken from the stones—they would liave 
to be removed in any case ? They would bo more liable to injury where they were removed trom the rocks 
than from stones laid down expressly to receive them. 
1780. Supposing they could bo removed without injury; there would be no difference between them 
‘ then ? 
