OYSTER CULTURE IX ENGLAND. 403 



poration of that town possesses regulatory powers under 

 "The Boston Deeps Fishery Order, 1870." 



Before my arrival, the Corporation gave notice of my 

 visit by advertisement in the local newspaper, and invited 

 any persons having complaints to make with respect to 

 the management of the fishery, to attend a meeting between 

 the Corporation and myself, which I had arranged for the 

 former day. Several dredgermen and merchants responded 

 to the invitation, and asserted that the whole of the oyster 

 beds had been closed for three years after the grant of the 

 Order. It was proved, however, by the production of the 

 handbills giving notice of the opening and closing of the 

 various beds, that these assertions were entirely without 

 foundation ; and I was assured by the person charged with 

 fixing the handbills, and by the water bailiff, that all 

 notices are posted at the town hall, the market, and other 

 conspicuous places in the town, and that they are also 

 served upon all boats found within the limits of the fishery.* 

 Some complaints were at the same time made against the 

 management of the Lynn beds, which I subsequently found 

 to be equally unwarranted. 



From the Report of Mr. Pennell it appears that the 

 beds in 1869 were in a state of almost complete denuda- 

 tion. In five hauls of the dredge he obtained only two 

 oysters, and the evidence given before him seems to have 

 pointed to the existence of " none, or scarcely any." 

 When the Order came into operation, half of the beds 



* Mr. Cousens, who in April last gave evidence before the Select 

 Committee on Oyster Fisheries, and who was the chief spokesman of 

 the complainants at Boston, appears to have given his evidence to the 

 Committee under a misapprehension, both as to the facts of manage- 

 ment in the fisheries of Boston and Lynn, and as to the productiveness 

 of the oyster fisheries at the date of the respective Orders. 



