Exotic Intruders
Brown trout centenary
Brown trout centenary
In the Annual Report of the North Canterbury Acclimatisation Society for 1968, it was stated, 'The 21st September, 1967, was a red-letter day for this Society in that it marked the one hundredth anniversary of the arrival of the very first brown trout ova into New Zealand.'
The Society held a small commemoration service to mark this date, pin-pointing the former site of the Society's ponds, now part of the Botanical Gardens close by the Nurses' Home, and unveiling a bronze plaque set into a concrete base. 'A Centennial stamp,' the Report went on, 'was issued by the Postmaster-General (The Hon. W. J. Scott) during 1967 in commemoration of this important occasion.'
The stamp certainly was issued—a very pretty 71/2 cent one, one of the first commemorative issues in decimal currency. However it is interesting to note that at this late date the controversy over Mr Johnson's brown trout still continued: the Post Office tactfully failed to print 'Centennial Issue' on the stamp face.