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18

On the 30th March I forwarded, by the Colonial Government steamer " Hinemoa," eighteen of Sir James Maitland's boxes, being six ex " Kaikoura," ten ex " Doric," and two that were on hand from previous shipments, which I hope you have received all right. The six boxes ex " Tongariro " I will forward by the earliest opportunity. Whitefish. —I am sorry I cannot give such a good account of these fish. The ova arrived in splendid order, but, the weather being very warm, the temperature of the water was high—namely, 55° Fahr. The eggs began to die fast the day after they were placed in the water; but ultimately a good many hatched, estimated to be from ten to twenty thousand out of the fifty thousand, the number stated to be in the tray we received on the 9th February; but after they began to feed they died very fast, and on the 9th March we turned the remainder—about a thousand—into a new pond of considerable depth, where they have been seen by Eanger Burt occasionally since. I may say that I placed between two hundred and three hundred in one of the hatching-boxes at Opoho, and I was not a little surprised at the result of these. The native robins were in the habit of frequenting the hatching-house, and, as the box in which the whitefish-ova were placed was, of course, uncovered,_the robins had taken the lot before I detected them. I caught them in the act, and, of course, quickly showed them the door after that. This was my reward for encouraging them about. I have, &c, F. Deans, The Secretary of the Marine Department, Wellington. Curator.

No. 29. Lieutenant Smith, E.N., to the Seceetaey, Marine Department. Siß,— Wellington, 17th February, 1887. I have the honour to report as follows on the transportation of whitefish-ova, per steamship " Alameda," from Auckland to Queenstown. In accordance with the instructions received, I proceeded to Auckland, per steamship " Waihora," on the 28th ultimo, arriving at that place on the 31st. From the 31st ultimo to the 4th instant I was engaged in making all the necessary preparations for receiving the ova, and on the latter date they were all completed with the exception of removing the ice from the freezing-works, orders having been given for it to be sent direct from the freezingroom to the van on the arrival of the mail-steamer, the ice-chest having been previously sent to the freezing-works. I also engaged two carpenters (with the necessary timber) to accompany me in the tug " Awhina " to Tiritiri, on the evening of the 6th instant, for the purpose of boarding the mailsteamer, and making cases, if necessary, on the way up to the wharf. The " Alameda," however, arrived unexpectedly on the morning of the sth instant, not being expected by the Postal authorities until late on the afternoon of the 7th instant. I found that the necessary cases had been made on board. In company with Mr. Cheeseman, the Secretary of the Auckland Acclimatization Society, I went into the ice-room, and found the ova-cases embedded in solid ice, requiring the use of a pick to bring them to light. On opening the cases, and examining the top tray in each case, the ova was found to be in splendid condition, and the packing-arrangements so good that it was deemed undesirable to open all the trays. The ice packed in the moss in North America was still intact. The trays were placed one over the other with a thick layer of moss between each tray, the whole battened together with light battens, and placed in a packing-case with a space about 4in. between the trays and the case, this space being tightly packed with moss and ice. On removing the cases from the icehouse they were placed in the large packing-cases on a thick layer of ice and sawdust, the side spaces being filled with ice and sawdust tightly packed, the top filled in with ice, and the lids screwed down. I would recommend that any future shipments of ova from America should, if possible, be sent by the " Alameda," not only on account of the perfect arrangements made for this consignment, but by so doing there would be a probability of there always being some one on board who had seen the arrangements for previous shipments. I gave the steward the full amount of bonus authorized in my instructions—viz., £s—a portion of which I saw him hand over to the butcher. I engaged three men and an express to transport the ova to the railway-station, the assistance that it had been arranged I should have from the Customs Department being unavailable on account of a sudden influx of shipping. The ova and ice were placed in the forehold of the " Eotorua " at 3.30 p.m. on the afternoon of the sth-instant, and the cases wrapped round with blankets.' I may add here that every assistance was given me by the Collector of Customs and the Chief Postmaster at Auckland. Mr. Cheeseman and Mr. Brewer, of the Acclimatization Society, also agreed to asist me all they could in examining the ova. The following forenoon, at Taranaki, the cases were repacked with ice, and again at midnight at Wellington, when I handed oyer ten trays to Mr. Wilson for transhipment to Nelson. A further supply of ice was taken in here, and a start made again in the " Hinemoa " at 3.30 a.m. on the morning of the 9th instant. The cases were repacked with ice again at 3.30 p.m., the " Hinemoa " arriving at Lyttelton at 9. p.m. The cases were here removed to a special van, and a further supply of two sacks of ice taken in, a start being made from Christchurch at 9.30 p.m. The cases were then repacked with ice, and a supply of 6cwt., packed in sawdust, was received at Oamaru. On nearing Dunedin I had one case ready to hand over a tray to the Dunedin Acclimatization Society • but on arriving there I was met by Mr. Wilkie, the secretary, and Mr. Deans, the curator, the latter of whom accompanied me to Clinton to take over the tray there. The cases were repacked on leaving Dunedin, and again on leaving Clinton, also between Gore and Lumsden. At Lumsden a special engine was attached to the van, and I arrived at Kingston shortly after 9 p.m., where a steamer was waiting to proceed to Queenstown. I arrived at Queenstown at midnight on the Bth