OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 



oysters depends on causes which cannot be sensibly 

 affected by any restrictive legislation. All such legislation 

 is in itself objectionable, inasmuch as it creates new 

 offences, and tends to make the administration of justice 

 odious, and the burden of proof is always on those who 

 advocate it to show that its utility is so great and manifest 

 as to outweigh the inconvenience. If Mr. Huxley's infer- 

 ences from the French statistics are right (and I do not 

 myself see the answer to them), the improvement of the 

 oyster fisheries is to be sought, not in multiplying penal 

 laws, which at best are troublesome to enforce and uncer- 

 tain in their working, but in the judicious encouragement 

 of oyster cultivation, (n) 



I will conclude this chapter with a somewhat lengthy, 

 but very instructive and readable extract from " Oyster 

 Culture," by Commander C. V. Anson, R.N., and E. H. 

 Willett, F.S.A., convinced that its comprehensive grasp of 

 the subject in question, combined with its valuable sugges- 

 tions and additional information, will atone for its length 

 and insertion. 



Under the heading " Laws and Suggestions for the 

 Protection of Oyster Fisheries," the able and experienced 

 authors write as follows upon Oyster Fishery Legislation, 

 beginning with 



DREDGING v. OVER-DREDGING. 



Oyster cnlturists and experts are divided into two 

 schools with regard to this question. The views of one 

 party are fairly represented by the Report of the Select 

 Committee appointed by the House of Commons in 1876 

 to inquire into the scarcity and consequent high price of 



(n) The Fishery Laws. By F. Pollock. 



