TO THE EDITOR OF TUB TIMAKU UJiUALD. Sib, — I have read two letters m your paper over the signature "Fisherman" objecting, apparently, to any attempt being made to in troduce herring ova into New Zealand waters, on the ground that the common herriDg (clupea liarengus) becomes unfit for food as you approaoh the tropics. I should like to know " Fisherman's " authority for this opinion, as I have nover heard it expressed before. It is true that two or three species of the genus clupea are found m tropical seas, and that these are not considered safo food for human beings. But thero are nearly seventy species of tho vlupea family altogether, and tho one m. question, tho common herring (vlupea hweui/us) has never, so far as I have heard, been found m or near the tropica, or been known to acquire any poisonous properties whatever. H " Jtfblieriuuu " is m possession of iufuriuulioii

to the contrary I Bbould like to know if it is from a reliable source. In any case, the seas around our southern shores cannot be called tropical. They lie m latitudes only some 300 miles further north of the Antarctic Circle than the regions where the herring flourishes best m the northern eeas are south of the Arctic. They are over fourteen hundred miles south of the tropic of Capri corn, and, as' I have said, I have not heard of any species outside the tropics boing unfit for food. Tho value this fish will bo to tho colony, if onco acclimatised m theso waters, is incalcul able Its valuo as an article of food and coinmevco is, I believe, almost if not quite unequalled amongst fishes. It will give lucrativo employment to thousands of mon of the class to which " Fisherman " presumably belongs. It will bo a delicious, wholesome and cheap article of food to the inhabitants of these Islands, and it will add a fiiost im portant item to our list of exports. I should think tho Bmall vote (£250) objected to by your correspondent was a most wise one, if there is a possibility of getting the ova of this invaluable fish brought Bafely to tho colony. 