Ol’tiXEll OULl'L'JiE COMirrSSIOX—MINUTES 01' EVlDE>*Ci::. 
15 
Ml*. Jlenry AVoodward cxiimiiicd:— 
4;2d. Chairman.'] You arc an oyi^tor iiicrcliant lu Hydiicvy A7cs. 
425. You Iiavo heard uie Mtatc to Mr. Clarke tlic object for whicli thin CoiuniisKion was appointed? Yes. Mi\ II. 
42(). Any inforinatioii whicli you (;an afford us we sliall bo glad to receive. Please to give us youropiniou Woodward, 
as to whether it is desirable, iu the interest of the public,'to lease large blocks as at present, or to lease 
ihc oyster-bearing rivers in small areas ? Aly opinion is that the present inode of letting the rivers tends 
to prevent stealing. Of course a man cannot rob himself ; but if there Avere a number of lessees pretty 
close together, the man who got a poor jiart of the river would probably take the oysters from some other 
bed where they lay thick and pleiitituT. A\Y arc (piite sure this would be done, and we can't guard the 
rivers day and night. 
427. But it is very possible to deline the boTUulnrics of the difFcreut leases by means of buoys? I don t 
ihink it is; if voii Avere to put down l.uioys, in times of floods the dead timber carried doAvn by the stream 
Avould catcli bold of tlicm and take them iiAvav. That Avould not happen in all riA'crs ; for instance, the 
George's Eiver, which [s broad near your ]ilace, you could dcline the boundaries by buoys, but in other 
rivers you could not. 
428. But don't 3 X)U think the rivers could lie utili/.cd to a much greater extent if they were leased iu 
small areas, and that Ibis Avould give employment to a largo nuuibcr of persons ? I believe there Avould 
be more oysters jiroduccd. 
429. 3I}\'F(fr?ielL] A\nil you explain Avhat you mean by produced ? I mean you Avould get moA’c oysters 
out of the river. ] believe if the rivers were ])ut uj) in beds that poor men Avoiild take a bed here and 
there, and if they found oysters scarce it Avould be tbeir business to obtain some elscAvhcrc to cnricli their 
l)cds. • 
480. Cl/amnan.] AVlvere Avould llioy get them from —off the rocks and mangroA'cs— the small oysters 
Avhich stick to them? Yes. 
481. And these oysters being taken from the rocks and mangroves and planted on suitable ground, Avould 
grow large and saleiiblo ? Geriainly they would j a great many Avould die from being cracked in taking 
off, but a large number would grow. 
482. But IF carefully taken off Ibo rocks witli a chisel there aVoaiUI not l)o a A'ory largo ])ercentagc killed? 
Yes; the Avay they grow iu many of those places along the.beach is in bunches, aiul they separate them 
Avith a knife. 
488. Have yen Found il lo answer Avell ? In some iiistauces avc Iuia'c lost everyone, hut in Camden 
Haven avc hnv(' had 1,(K)0 hags hiid down, ami I believe flicy linvc jirospcred well. 
481. Then von do cultivale tliem artificially—ATr. Clarke said lie did not,? Air. Clarke did not under¬ 
stand the pnrpcirt oF your <|uestion. H(; understood you to ask turn Avhether ho got a few oysters here 
and there and laid tliom doAvn on artiiicinl l)(*ds. AVc have laid lots of oysters down—Air. Clarke is con¬ 
nected with me—and wo have lost a number of Ibcm ; we lost all that we laid doAVu on tlie Manning 
lliAcr. 
485. lion. J. B. Willson,] Air. Clarke spoke of a valuable bed inside tlio bur of the Alaiiuing Eiver? 
Yes. 
486. -Is it the case tlult that bed is all sand ? Avo, it is not sand, but the sand covers it up ; it is a sort 
oF rocky sand bottom. 
487. Could not you immedintcly after a flood, do sometlilng lo save that bed, by raking it over so as lo 
dislod<>-c the sand ? Tlu^ oysters would lie com[)letely smothered Avitli mud and s^iud before you could get 
at them, and (be sand cliola's lliem. Only a few Aveeks ago there was a little tresli on that bar, and it 
destroAxd every oyster njion il; tliat is one of the finest beds ])ossiblc. 
488. Could nothing have been done immediately after the Hood to save those oysters? IN'othiug, sir; and 
I will tell YOU another tiling, — on that Alanuing Biver tlie fresh Avater kills them. 1 will tell you another 
_ wo have a large slied. lOO Ft. long, lloorcd with battens about half-an-Inch apart so tliat the Avater 
can '^mt iu between them ; we bad it full of oysters, and the flood water settled ou tliem and killed tliem. 
The shed too Avas (dear of the bank. Still that is not the ease iu every river; there are plenty of other rivers 
whore tlic floods do not affect them at all. ^ 
489. There ai-c a good many hanks on the Alanuing Blver of yich alluvial soil, and when the flood waters 
come down a ‘U’eat deal of this allu\ ium is held in suspension by the water? Yes, and it settles on the 
oysters and kiUs them. During the last six years L have known that bed to be co\ eredover several times, 
still the OA'sfcrs setfle there again. 
440. Chairman.] Until anotlior flood comes and destroys iltciu? Yes ; I believe it is no use to try to do 
anytliing there. r • t • o tvt i • i 
441. Are llicre any erecks connected Avitli the Afaiiuing Kiver that Avould ansAver ? JNo, ihcrc is only 
Scott’s Creek, wbiVb lends From flu* north to the south passage. 
442. Is that a good place for oysters ? There was once a famous bed for oysters Ihore, when the old 
south bar AA'as banlu'd u]) and no wat:or could run in or out there ; but Avhen the south bar was opened 
out Idle oysters came into the south passage and died out In Scott’s Crook. It only became dead Avatcr 
thou—tbore was no current. As far as my experience goes, there are no good oyster bods except where 
tlicro is a good current of AA'ater. J coukl sbow you tluit iu fifty places on the Parramatta Itiver Avitbout 
going furtben*. . i o x-r t i i i i 
d'18.' But AVC BOO that iu I'rance oysters fatten in still ])omls~old salt ponds ? \es, 1 haA*e lieard so, and 
1 believe it; Imt I ba\'e liad a good d(*al of experience here, and 1 liave no\er Icuoaau it to answer iu still 
Avater. 
144. Is it not a fact that large (pianfitics of miniature oysters are brought mto market in Sydney and 
sold as food? Tliey are not brought noAv ; it is not to bo suiiposcd that wc should be foolish cuougli to 
bring in oysters tliat wo could not sell at a gmid ])rice. 
41-5. Hiidcrstaud me, 1 am not speaking personally; fhcrc arc a great many oyster merchants iu Sydney. 
Is it not a fact that a large number of very small oysters are brought into Sydney? There arc none 
brought into Sydney exce])t hv lessees ; and it is not to be supposed that avc should bring m very small 
oysters and sell tliem at 15s., when by keeping them a little longer avc could get a pound. 
446. But wc liave lieard of small oysters sent to Melbourne by lessees Avhicli were condemned as unsale¬ 
able and sold at 8s. 6d. a bag Tlie only oysters sold at that price arc those from Brisbane, and avc have 
110 control over them. There luu'C been a large tiuautity of very poor oysters coming iu lately, and it is 
those 
