448 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



laid down in the Thames for fattening ; those which are 

 not then removed are kept till the summer months, when 

 they are sold for consumption. In both cases they are 

 exported before they have had an opportunity of spatting ; 

 and, as under the influence of continual fishing, full-grown 

 oysters are necessarily diminishing each year upon the 

 ground where the dredge can be used, reproduction may be 

 said to depend almost solely upon such as are protected by 

 the boulders and large stones with which parts of the beds 

 are strewed. The 2-inch ring, therefore, while sufficient to 

 retain oysters on the ground until they are commercially of 

 a convenient age, is useless for the preservative objects to 

 secure which the Order was granted. 



It appears from the report made by Mr. Pennell in 

 1870, on the occasion of the public inquiry held prior to 

 the grant of the Order, that the dredgermen were then 

 almost unanimous in advocating the concession of power 

 to close portions of the ground from time to time, and 

 power to close one-third of it for not more than two years 

 was accordingly granted to the Corporation. Unfortunately 

 the good sense of the fishermen was unable to hold out in 

 face of a constantly diminishing crop ; and the facts which 

 ought to have constituted a reason for using the powers of 

 the Order to the full, supplied an excuse for this neglect. 

 In 1873 the Corporation proposed to close the grounds 

 within Swansea Bay for two years, but a petition was at 

 once presented by a majority of the dredgermen, represent- 

 ing that as the banks which it was intended to close formed 

 the only beds which could be fished in rough weather, the 

 fishermen would be starved if the prohibition were carried 

 out, and praying that dredging might be allowed during 

 the months of December, January, and February. The 

 petition was acceded to, with the result that the dredgermen 



