OYSTER CULTURE OOMilTSSION—MINUTES OE EYIDENCE. 
110. What was the state of the oyster-beds when you leased them originally—arc they improved at all 
since then ? Yes. 
120. How long have you had the Hawkesbury beds ? A little over two years—about two years and six 
months. 
121. Then they have not had much time to improve ? Ho, but they are improving. 
122. You stated to Mr. Holt that you have never adopted any artiiicial means of catching the spat? Ho. 
128. Could not that be done very profitably in some of these rivers ? I think not. 
121. Why? Well, a very little flood would cany away anything of that sort. 
12o. Yes, but the expense would be trifling; a few fagots or some such material would be the means of 
attaching millions of spat. You think the natural rocks catch all that is needed ? Yes. 
12(k That is to say for our present consumption? Yes. 
127. Supposing our consumption were a thoixsand times as large, do you not think an immense quantity 
of spat might bo secured by artificial means ? It might be done ; I have never tried it. 
128. I presume you will admit that there has been a great deal of destruction going on of valuable oyster- 
beds in the Colony—I am not alluding to your own—from the beds being over-dredged ? I do not thinlc 
so, since they have been leased. 
129. I am speaking of the country generally, before the leases were issued ? Yes. 
180. Can you tell us anything of the quantity of oysters taken out of the rivers? Ho. 
181. Have you any further suggestions to make before you leave ? Ho. I should be very glad to show 
my place to any members of the Commission if they would like to see it. I have watched it very care¬ 
fully, and have been able to form a pretty good idea of the ])laces where the oyster will grow. 
182. AYill fatten, you mean; there is no doubt about their growing ? Yes, but there are some places— 
I may mention one cx’eek in particular as an instance of it—the Moonah Creek—where there is a point 
separating it from anotlier creek, the oysters will grow there as much in six months as they will in twelve 
months in any other place. 
133. AVliat is the reason, do you know ? It is in consequence of the quantity of fresh water that comes 
into the creek. 
184. They gi’ow best where there is jdenty of freshwater? Yes, where the fresh water is continually 
mingling with the salt. 
185. Do they breed there as well as in other places ? Ho, they do not breed there so well, 
180. Then they will not breed so well on ground where they fatten ? Ho ; and even in the creek where 
they do grow so well, if you take the oystci’s aud lay them down in tlie beds they will grow faster than 
any others you could bring. 
137, Hon, J, B, WiUon,'\ The best fattening grounds are high up the river where there is jilenty of fresh 
water? Yes. To the Chaiman: I was requested by the lessees to ask your permission to inspect 
your beds. I am going very largely into oyster culture, and I might be able to learn something from what 
I saw there. 
138. Chairman,'] I shall be very glad to let you see the improvements I am adopting from what I have 
seen on the Continent and elsewhere. In about ten days or a fortnight when the men are not so busy, if 
you will pay me a visit, 1 will show them to you. 
Mr. F. J. 
Gibbins, 
6 Nov., 1876. 
Mr. Jolin Emerson called in and examined:— 
130. Chairman^ AYe have been ap])oiiitod a Commission to inquire into tlie best mode of cultivating the Mr. J. 
oyster, and of utilizing and improving the natural beds, in order to recommend to the Government any Kmorson. 
legisiation tliat may be nceessuiy. Can you give us any information on the subject, Mr. Emerson. You 
are an oyster mcrcliant, I believe ? Yes. Before I give my evidence I wish to ask you one question 8 1876. 
which 1 ho])C you will not consider disrespectful. Am I to be examined as a lessee or as a private 
individual ? 
140. Hot as a lessee. AYc merely wish to obtain from you such information generally on the subject as 
may serve to guide us in our recommendations to the Government. It is merely on public grounds that 
we do this. If any question is put to you which you think interferes with your interests, you can 
decline to answer it? 1 Avill ex]jlaiu my reason for ]>utting that question. I am quite certain that if all 
the lessees were examined on tins sulijeet, my replies would be foiuid to be totally different to all the 
others; consequently tlmre would be live against me, and my opinions would go for nothing. lam 
quite a^varo that my views differ in every shape and form from those of the other lessees, both as to what 
has taken place and what ought to be done. 
111. Hon. J. B. Wilson.] It is by collecting all the different opinions on the subject, aud comparing 
them, that the Commission hope to be able to arrive at a correct decision. Therefore we shall be glad to 
Teeeive any information you can give us ? 1 shall be happy to afford you all the information I can. 
142. Chairmem.] You have been largely engaged in the oyster trade ? Yes, for fifteen years. 
143. Yon have also had some er[)ericnce in oyster culture ? Yes. 
11 1. And in breeding and fattening oysters ? Yes, in cultivatijig them on purely naked ground. 
145. At what age do you consider oysters marketable, that is to say, in perfection for food—how long 
uftor they are spawned ? Hot less than five years, to attain a real good growth. They can of course bo 
Used sooner. 1 have some that were ])iit down in April, 1874, two years aud eight months ago, but to bo 
thoroughly marketable and fit for food they ought to remain for two years more. They were no doubt 
ubout two moTxths old when 1 laid them. 
IIG. AYhere did you get them ? From the shores of Botany Bay and off the rocks ; they were collected 
fuiywherc. 
14*7. Are there many small oysters sold in Sydney? A largo quantity ; they are used for what is called 
“ chopping up,” for tlic bottling trade, and are hawked about the streets, and sold in various ways. 
148. Do you think it desirable that that sort of trade should be continued ? Ho; it must end in the 
destruction of the beds if all the young oysters are used up ; and by and by we shall bo short of spat 
^ud all tlie natural beds Avill bo worked out. 
149. Don’t you think it very desirable tliat the Government should adopt some gauge, and prohibit the 
«£de of oysters for consumption ihat will pass through a ring of (say) 2Huches? It would be very 
ditlicult to do that, because there is such a difliciilty iu separating the oysters. Some of them grow 
together so that it is almost impossible to separate them. I think the better way would be to have a 
proper 
f 
