Agricultural and Commercial Society. 45 
thrown up the post through the influence of the late 
Curator. He had however told his informant that 
there was no truth in that statement. 
Mr. T. S. Hargreaves brought forward his motion 
for a Committee to enquire into the fisheries of the 
colony. He said it seemed to him that the Society had 
in some degree got away from the original basis on 
which it was started, and that less interest was taken by 
members in the objects for which the Society was 
primarily incorporated than in securing the latest 
literature. It seemed to him that the Society was in 
great danger of becoming nothing more than a lending 
library, and he had brought forward the motion to see 
if there was any possibility of members taking an 
interest in the question with which it dealt. The 
constitution of the Society encouraged him to think 
that the fishery question was one that should engiige 
their attention, as the Society was formed for the 
encouragement of the agriculture of the colony, and 
other branches of industry whereby the resources of the 
colony were likely to be developed and increased. 
There was some fish in the Museum — he believed he 
was responsible for some of them being there — but he 
regretted to say that they were not arranged in a way 
to make them of educational value, which he thought 
was the first object of the Museum. They knew 
absolutely nothing about the fishes of the colony, and 
yet it was a fact that the population depended more 
upon fish for their daily food than upon any other form 
of animal food. If anyone went into the market he 
would see undersized fish of every kind exposed for 
sale, and would also find fish full of spawn. This was 
his experience when he visited the market a few days 
