OXSTEE CULTURE COMMISSION—MINUTES OF EVIDENCE. 
27 
813. Have you mucli knowledge of the Whitstable ground? It is chiefly clayey soil and marl. 
814. Is there not plenty of that soil in this country ? There may be; I have not seen it. 
815. Is not the soil in the lake you have been working on something like it ? That is shell and stones. 
81G. And you say there is clay on the Whitstable ground ? Tes, soft clay. 
817. Is there much difierenee between that and the soil we have here ? Yes ; I have seen nothing here 
like the soil we have at Home. 
818. Can you fatten oysters on your lake as well as you could in the Whitstable ground ? No, the water 
is too still; there is no tide. 
819. But supposing you made a canal from the river to the lake, would not that have the effect of pro¬ 
ducing a tide ? That could not be done ; the lake, as it is called, is only a bight running a little way in 
from the river. 
820. Mr. Farnell!\ The ground at Whitstable belongs to a Company? Tes. 
821. Have they a charter ? Yes, they have a charter from Queen Anne. 
822. They do not '^ay any rent ? Only a nominal one—a peppercorn rent; the proprietors can buy and 
sell their interests in it, but no one can purchase the right to the ground—that cannot be sold. I suppose 
there are some 800 or 900 persons who have an interest in it. 
Mr. H. W, 
BeU. 
ISNowTwe. 
Mr. P. T, 
Johnson. 
FRIDAY, 17 JSrOVEMBFR, 1876. 
present:— 
Hon. J. B. WILSON, | J. S. EARNELL, Esq. 
The Hon. THOMAS HOLT, M.L.C., in the Chair. 
Mr. Peter Thomas Johnson called in and examined:— 
823. Chairman.'] Are you an oyster merchant in Sydney, Mr. Johnson? Tes. 
824. Have you been many years in the oyster business ? Yes, about sixteen years. 
825. Then you have had a great deal of experience ? I have, sir. , • ^ - 
826. Have you had any experience in England or in Europe? No, only the experience I have had here. ' 
827. In this Colony ? Tes. 
828. You are a lessee of oyster beds from the Crown, are you not ? Yes, at Shoalhaven, 
829. You are not a proprietor—you have not the freehold of any oyster bod ? No, only those I have 
at Shoalhaven. 
830. As lessee ? Yes. 
831. Have you been engaged in breeding oysters at all ? Yes. 
832. What process do you adopt in breeding them ? I shift them and lay them down again. 
833. But that is not breeding. What I mean is, catching the spat and laying them down on suitable 
around to grow and fatten ? No, I have never tried that, except that I have laid down wood for the spat 
to adhere to. ^ . n tt • i . n i 
834. Have you been successful m doing so t Yes, with a certain sort of wood. 
835. What sort of wood? Oak, branches of oak. 
836. Were the branches well covered with spat ? Tes. 
837. The spat require something solid to stick to ? They require something rough. 
838! Is it indispensable that it should be rough ? Yes. 
839 Have you never seen spat sticking to a glass bottle ? I have, but then you only find them single ; 
if they accumulated and became thick they would all tumble off. 
840 Have you ever seen a glass bottle covered with them? Tes, I have; I have also seen pieces of 
earthenware and old boots covered with them. I believe I have got the largest sized spat off old boots. 
841 Then your experiments in breeding have been very successful ? Yes. 
842 Have you any idea what amount of success you have had—the number of oysters on any branch 
or number of branches or fascines ? No sir, I never took notice of it. 
843 And what do you do with these young oysters? I knock them adrift and shift them about. 
844 That is to say, after knocking them off you lav them down on beds to grow and fatten ? Yes. 
845 And how have you succeeded ? Very well; they grow very well and very fast. 
846 And become fat ? Yes, and better tasted than they would be on their natural bed. I have had as 
fine oysters as I ever saw nine months after shifting them. 
847 . On the Shoalhaven Kiver? On the Shoalhaven. o t i. 1 , 
848 And what kind of ground did you make use ot tor that purpose r 1 had a small oU-acre lease 
before the rivers were leased. .ovt- 
849 Was that where you put down the wood for catching the spatYes. 
850l Did you not continue it after you leased the river ? Oh yes, I am doing it now. 
851. What was the area of the river you leased? 50 acres. „ ^ , 
852 I mean the river you now lease from the Government? I have all below low-water-mark. 
853 Yes but what is the area of your lease, does it comprise 1,000 acres, 10,000, or what ? I could not 
tell you ;’l* should say the Crookhaven Eiver is about 4 miles in length, and then there is the Shoalhaven, 
which 1 believe extends about 12 miles in one place. n i, i i , 
851. That makes 16, and what do you lease besides ? There are the bays which are all below that, and 
855.'*The1i you must have 3,000 or 4,000 acres altogether ? I really could not say; there is plenty of 
barren ground amongst it. -xr ji c 
856 And also a great deal of fruitful ground, is there not ? Tes, it is a very good place for growing. 
857 And they fatten well also ? Tes, if they are not placed too thick. 
858. Was the whole of the 50 acres you leased at first good fattening ground ? No, about half of it; it 
was too soft and muddy. „ m, . p 
859. But that could be easily remedied, could it not ? That is what I put the timber on it for. 
860 . 
