I0l8 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



We may fairly presume that another object the 

 authorities had in view in granting concessions was the 

 success of the concessionaires. Old-established corpora- 

 tions and private layings, though they have not perhaps 

 done so well of late years as formerly, appear to have 

 been fairly prosperous, but in those instances where 

 companies have attempted by a large expenditure of 

 capital to start flourishing concerns, the result has been 

 a lamentable failure. 



In 1864 nine square miles of the foreshore were granted 

 to a company, and consequently taken away from public 

 fishermen. Those who had charge of its affairs spent 

 nearly half the capital before they earned a penny, and 

 after having for some years maintained a precarious 

 existence by selling off their stock, or in other words 

 "living on their capital," they at length exhausted their 

 resources. This was in 1877, but meanwhile the Board of 

 Trade had in 1874, at the appeal of the fishermen of the 

 neighbourhood, ordered an inquiry, which resulted in the 

 nine square miles being reduced to a trifle over four. 

 Another inquiry was held in 1881, when it was again found 

 that the grounds were not properly cultivated, through the 

 financial embarrassments of the company, and the four 

 square miles were reduced to one. To sum up the results 

 of this concession up to the end of 1881 : it appears that 

 for seventeen years a right has been taken away from 

 public fishermen to fish on eight square miles of ground 

 without any compensation being given to them, or any 

 apparent advantage being derived by the public, whilst the 

 experiment was attended by a dead loss to the 

 concessionaires. 



The absence of any but very small dividends to the 

 shareholders of other companies who have received grants 



