OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. 969 



country in their relations with each other internationally, 

 and amongst themselves as fellow-countrymen. The for- 

 bearance of fishermen will regulate their conduct in pro- 

 portion to their accurate understanding of what is a just 

 usage in respect to the matters of their calling, and to their 

 knowledge of security in the enforcement of a just usage. 

 For this reason their remedies should be made as simple as 

 possible. Fishermen, with the exception of salvors, who 

 are chiefly beachmen or long-shore fishermen, are not a 

 litigious class ; the majority prefer losing their remedy to a 

 day's fishing. Their knowledge of what is a just usage will 

 increase proportionately as their class jealousies are dissi- 

 pated, and as they learn many things over and above the 

 present mere practical routine of their business. . . . (d] 



In consequence of the French fishermen exercising 

 their calling on the English shore, a convention was 



-, O o 



entered into in 1839, between Her Majesty and the King 

 of the French, fixing certain boundaries, and to which a 

 chart was appended. 



The 2yth of Victoria, chap. 79, entitled "An Act to 

 carry into effect a Convention between Her Majesty and 

 the King of the French, concerning the Fisheries in the 

 Seas between the British Islands and France," w r hich also 

 applies to the whole coast, enacts :- 



" Art. 9. Empowers officers of the Coast-guard or Cus- 

 toms to seize dredges. 



"Art. 45. Oyster-fishing shall open on the ist of Sep- 

 tember and close on the 3oth of April. 



(d) " Relations of the State with Fishermen and Fisheries, includ- 

 ing all matters dealing with their Protection and Regulation." By 

 F. J. Talfourd Chater. (Prize Essays issued in connection with the 

 Great International Fisheries Exhibition. William Clowes & Sons. 

 London. 1883.) 



