First Secretary of Acclimatisation Society, brought out fish in tanks.

JOHNSON, Andrew Mensal. Mr. Johnson's name is associated with the many attempts at introducing fish into the colony. He was, indeed, the first to introduce, at his own expense, the English brown trout, the perch, and the American brook trout, all of which he ultimately thoroughly acclimatized and distributed to the most distant parts of New Zealand. Educated to agricultural pursuits, he for many years carried on a farm in the vicinity of Birmingham. But his hobby was fish-culture ; and he watched with keen interest the early attempts at introducing salriiun into the Australasian colonies. He proposed what -he considered a far less expensive and quicker way of stocking the colony, viz., to confine a few fish where they could have access to both fresh and salt water and yet be protected from enemies, and to obtain from this source, by means of artificial propagation, acclimatized eggs and fish for distribution throughout the colony ; but his suggestion met with no encouragement from the authorities in London, who still continued the plan of sending out large numbers of eggs for successive seasons, and of liberating the fish with out any after protection. Thereupon Mr. Johnson decided on coming out to New Zealand to devote his energies to fish -culture. With this object he left England with an assortment of all the useful English fish, from a minnow to a salmon, especially tame-reared. On the voyage the fish were unfortunately all poisoned by white lead. On his arrival in Canterbury, Mr. Johnson was engaged as Curator to the Acclimatization Society, then just started, in which capacity he continued for eleven years. Many shipments of salmon ova were received during this time ; but only one lot proved to have any good eggs, and out of these only forty-five fish were reared. Even this remnant perished during the visit to the sea. Shortly after this Mr. Johnson severed his connection with the Society, and established a fish-breeding farm at Opawa. He made arrangements for importing salmon ova on his own account, and succeeded ; but his efforts were attended with but moderate results. The introduction and propagation of other useful fish was carried on by Mr. Johnson with far more success. Large quantities of both eggs and young fish were annually supplied to the most distant parts of New Zealand and the Australian colonies. The Troutdale fish- breeding establishment at Opawa has been a well-known public resort for many years ; the recent improvements are a large hatching-house and salt-water aquarium, erected for the purpose of facilitating the acclimatization of salmon and other fish. The following are the varieties of fish kept at the establishment for artificial propagation up to September, 1885 : English brown trout, Scotch burn trout, American brook trout (Salmo fontinalis), tench, Loch Leven trout, salmon trout, English perch, gold and silver fish.

"Men of Mark of New Zealand", Alfred Cox (ed.), CHRISTCHURCH, N.Z. WHITCOMBE & TOMBS (LIMITED), 1886