EEPORT. 
To His Excellency Sir Heecules Eobiitson, Knight G-rand Cross of the Most Distinguished Order of 
St. Michael and St, George, Governor and Comniander-in-Chief of Kew South "WTales, <&c., &c., &c. 
Mat it pxease tour Excellexct,— 
The Commissioners appointed to inquire into the best mode of cultivating the oyster, of 
utilizing and improving and maintaining the natural oyster beds of the Colony, and as to the legislation 
necessary to carry out these objects, beg to state that, having given the subject their most earnest attention, 
haring obtained all available information respecting oyster cnlturo in other countries, having taken 
evidence from persons practically engaged in that pursuit in Australia, and having caused the principal 
oyster-bearing rivers to be examined and reported on, not only as to their present state but also as to 
their capabilities of improvement, have the honor to report as follows : — 
1 . The climate of Kew South Wales is pre-eminently suitable for the breeding, growth, and fattening 
of oysters; that under proper management, the oyster may be produced in the Colony iu the greatest 
perfection, the greatest profusion, and probably at a cheaper rate than in any other part of the world 
All authorities concur iu representing the oyster as a food of great dietetic value. In Europe and America 
the culth'ation of the oyster is au industry of great commercial importance, and there is every reason to 
believe that it may be made even more valuable in Australia; but, to obtain the full measure of the results 
that are possible, the natural advantages of our oyster fisheries must bo improved by art and culture— 
and must be carried oii with the same close regard to the conditions of success that is found necessary in 
other pursuits, Oj'ster culture, like agriculture or grazing, requires an intelligent industry in order to 
turn natural advantages to the best account. 
2. As to the commercial value of oysters, the Koyal Commission (Ireland), 1870, report as 
follows: “The value of the oysters consumed in England annually is estimated at £1,000,000 sterling, 
and there is no doubt tliat double that quantity would find ready consumption, if obtainable.” And in a 
foot-note on the same page of their Eeport (p. »3I) the Commission quote the following passage from the 
“ Popular Science Eeview”: — “ Such is the importance of this branch of commerce, that 700,000,000 of 
oysters are annually consumed in London alone, and quite as many, if not more, in the provinces. Now, 
supposing wc value them at Gd. a dozen, which is certainly below the ordinary selling price, we shall then 
have an annual ox])enditure in England of about tJireG milliom sterling in oysters alone. Could any fact,” 
they say, “more powerfully attest the value of this branch of commerce?” (Mr. Bnckland, iu evidence 
he gave before a Select Committee of the House of Commons, said he had paid as much as 3s. 6d. 
a dozen for oysters (natives) or seven times the value given as above in the “ Popular Science Eeview.”) 
Bertram, in the “ Harvest of the Sea,” estimates the number of oysters consumed in Loudon at nearly 
800,000,000. In Chambers’s Encyclopicdia it is said “ the oyster trade in New York amounts in value 
to £1,250,000 per annum” ; but from Baltimore it was recently stated, in tlie newspapers, that 40,000,000 
tins of preserved oysters are annually exported, of the value of about £2,000,000 sterling. 
3. From the above statements as to the value of oysters for home consumption and export, and in 
view" ot the fact that this climate is so admirably adapted for producing oysters in quantities almost without 
limit, and at the minimum cost, it would naturally be supposed that the oyster business in this Colony was 
equal iu importance to that in any other in commodity, with probably the sole exception of wool; but so 
far from this being the case, we regret to say that the homo consumption of qysters (as compared with the 
population) is small, the export of preserved oysters nil, and the shipment of oysters to the neighbouring 
Colonies will probably not exceed in value £10,000 a year. But, what may seem still more strange, this great 
oyster country is actually importing preserved oysters from America! We have not been able to ascertain 
from the Custom House the value of the Amei'ican oysters imported into Sydney, but, as wo have reason to 
believe that tinned oysters are to be bad at the stores in almost every town in the interior, the quantity 
imported cannot be very inconsiderable. We hope, however, that the time is not far distant when the impor¬ 
tation of oysters into Sydney will be deemed as great an inversion of trade as carrying coals to Newcastle. 
4. 
