OYSTER FISHERY LEGISLATION. IOOI 



tion may be awarded the grantees, and penalties varying 

 from 2 io 10 are incurred. 



A perusal of the foregoing provisions of the Sea 

 Fisheries Act of 1868 will show them to be so equitable 

 and simple that, with the one drawback of the expense 

 involved in procuring and confirming an order, modified 

 in 1877 (by section 7 of 40 and 41 Viet., c. 42), it is diffi- 

 cult to perceive what more legislation can do to promote 

 oyster culture and protect oyster spawning-beds. All 

 vested interests are considered ; in spite of the inconveni- 

 ence which it may possibly occasion navigation, private 

 property in the bed of the sea a most unusual gift is 

 permitted ; Parliament, through the Board of Trade, 

 becomes directly interested in the matter, and ready means 

 of convicting offenders are given to courts of law. 



In the very next year the South of England Oyster 

 Company took advantage of the Act, and The Oyster and 

 Mussels Fishery Orders Confirmation Act, 1869 (No. 2), 

 was passed. This confirmation Act is worthy of considera- 

 tion, as it shows how the means accorded in 1868 were put 

 to practical use. The Act itself is a short one of three 

 sections only, with a schedule containing in ten articles the 

 order confirmed. Its second section amends section 45 of 

 the Sea Fisheries Act of 1868. Section 45 implied that by 

 a certificate that a grant w r as improperly utilised the whole 

 grant must be determined ; but the amending section 2 

 enacted that a certificate might apply to part only of a 

 grant. This in itself is a matter of but trivial importance, 

 but it proves that these confirmatory Acts may from time 

 to time be utilised for the amendment of our sea fishery laws 

 generally, without, now that the question of fishery legisla- 

 tion is on a clearly defined basis, either passing express 

 amendment Acts on the one hand, or re-opening the whole 



