958 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



. An extension of the present system of encou- 

 raging mussel and oyster culture in the United Kingdom, 

 not only by reducing the expense of obtaining a grant of 

 foreshore, but by offering inducements to individual effort 

 rather than to joint-stock enterprise, would be of great 

 benefit to the oyster and mussel fisheries. The system 

 might possibly even be enlarged by including areas in 

 which crabs and lobsters could be stored, and kept till they 

 had attained the legal size, (a) 



The earliest Act of Parliament relating to fisheries, 

 that I am aware of, was passed in the third year of the 

 reign of James L, chap. 12. There was also an Act 

 passed in the i3th and i4th years of the reign of Charles 

 II., chap. 28. After this the next Act relating to fisheries 

 appears to be ist of George L, chap. 18; but none of 

 these Acts relate, except in general terms, to oysters. 



An Act of Parliament relating to oyster-fisheries 

 appears to have been passed in the 3 1 st year of the reign 

 of George III., chap. 51, which has been repealed by one 

 passed in the 28th year of the reign of George IV., chap. 

 29, which enacts, 



''That if any person shall steal any oyster or oyster- 

 brood from any oyster-bed, laying, or fishery, being the 

 property of any other person, and sufficiently marked out 

 or known as such, every such offender shall be deemed 

 guilty of larceny, and being convicted thereof shall be 

 punished accordingly. And if any person shall unlawfully 

 and wilfully use any dredge, or any net, instrument, or 

 engine whatsoever within the limits of any such oyster- 



(a) " The Relations of the State with Fishermen and Fisheries, 

 including all matters dealing with their Protection and Regulation." 

 By C. E. Fryer. (Prize Essays issued in connection with the Great 

 International Fisheries Exhibition, 1883.) 



