engine and propeller. It was the only vehicle of its kind in the area. Horses were terrified of it. However, it was used many times in response to calls in time of sickness or other emergency.

In 1941, Dr. Needler left Bideford to be Director of the Atlantic Biological Station at St. Andrews.

Soaring costs of labour and materials made the use of rearing trays unprofitable. In spite of much investigational work supervised by Dr. C]. Kerswill and Dr. R.R. (Reid) Logie of Halifax, the Board failed to find an economical substitute for floating trays with which to circumvent starfish attacks on young oysters. Experiments started by Mr. George Wilson of the Department of Fisheries proved that spat could be reared directly on the bottom in Conway Narrows, a tributary of Malpeque Bay, with very small losses. The late Honourable G. Shelton Sharp had discovered this and made practical use of it in his oyster farming operations.

In 1955 an epidemic oyster diseaseappeared at Cocagne, New Brunswick and spread from Shippegan in the north to the Strait of Canso in the southeast. The Fisheries Research Board found that Island oysters were resistant to it. As a result the Department had large quantities of Island oysters transferred to devastated areas where they were sold to lease—

holders.

The Department’s work on oysters was carried out by its Conservation and Development Service, of which Dr. A.L. Pritchard was Director. Dick Found was in charge of Maritime oyster work. This included the operation of its Experimental Oyster Farm under Dr. Reid Logie who supervised fish culture work. The Fisheries Research Board’s Biological Station at St-Andrews continued to maintain the Biological Substation at Bideford, with Mr. Roy E. Drinnan in charge, under the direction of Dr. J. Carl Medcof of St—Andrews. Dick Found was transferred to a position with the Department of Fisheries in Newfoundland in July 1961.

The following newspaper article was printed on October 27, 1967: CHARLOTTETOWN—The first mobile oyster hatchery in North America will be constructed at Ellerslie within the next month or six weeks. Fisheries Minister Robichaud, in a recent statement, announced the project and Roy Drinnan of Oyster Research at Ellerslie says that he expects the shell for the large trailer unit will arrive any day.

The Federal Department of Fisheries continued-to be in charge of the oyster culture at Bideford for many years, but due to cutbacks made by

80 Roors & BRANCHES