I have seen in the newspaper the price of fish called schnapper, quoted in the Sydney market at from thirty-six shillings to eighty-four shillings per dozen. These fish can be caught line-fishing in the Kaipara, at the rate of sixty or seventy an hour per line of two hooks, and of an average weight of about 9 lbs. each. The schnapper fisherman files the barbs off his hooks, that they may readily be extracted from the fishes' mouths; he also ties the bait securely on; and thus prepared, can haul the fish in as fast as he likes. The schnapper has most powerful teeth and jaws, and lives principally on cockles and mussels, the shells of which it crushes in its mouth without difficulty. It will, however, take almost any sort of bait, and is by no means a fastidious eater. The Kaipara waters swarm also with several other varieties of fish.