OYSTER CULTURE IX ENGLAND. 475 



he has the benefit of the experience which the Company 

 has acquired by a long and costly experiment. 



Whatever prospects of success, moreover, Mr. Davies 

 may have, his assistance affords the sole chance which the 

 shareholders of the Company still retain of obtaining any 

 return for their heavy outlay. The chance may not be a 

 good one ; but I should presume that the Board of Trade 

 would hesitate to deprive them of it utterly except on very 

 clear grounds of public necessity. 



And on this point it is worth observing that the divi- 

 sion of the grounds, which took place in 1876, has not 

 proved of much advantage to public fishermen. It was 

 stated by the counsel of the Company, and it was not 

 denied by the representatives of the Memorialists, that 

 with the exception of a short period after the issue of the 

 Board of Trade's certificate, the public fishermen have not 

 dredged on the grounds which were then thrown open to 

 them. They allege, I believe, that the ground is ruined 

 by neglect, and that dredging upon it no longer pays. I 

 hope that I may not be understood as supporting this 

 allegation. It seems to me only to show that the last few 

 years have been bad years, and it does not, in my judgment, 

 follow that the public fishermen, under more favourable 

 circumstances, would not resume dredging on the ground. 

 The fact that they have not yet done so, however, tends to 

 throw a doubt on the advantages which the public would 

 secure by throwing open the remainder of the grounds. 



I think, therefore, that having regard to the expendi- 

 ture which the Company has incurred, and to the offer of 

 assistance which it has received from Mr. Davies, it might 

 still be left in possession of some parts of the ground. But 

 I do not propose that the portion which should thus be 

 left to it should be large. I believe that, both from the 



