422 OYSTERS, AND ALL ABOUT THEM. 



took the form of a pledge not to dredge westward of a 

 straight line drawn from Newhaven Pier to Burntisland 

 Harbour. Among other spaces of ground west of this 

 line, but not included in either of the two fisheries above 

 mentioned, was an area of 414 acres, forming part of a 

 larger area over which Mr. Anderson had applied to 

 receive the grant of a several fishery. As the lessee of the 

 Duke of Buccleuch and of Lord Morton's fisheries, Mr. 

 Anderson was the person most immediately interested in 

 the existence of an easily recognized boundary to the 

 western oyster bed ; and it was part of the understanding 

 arrived at that Mr. Anderson should withdraw his applica- 

 tion for the larger area, and should confine himself to 

 applying for an order over so much ground only as lay 

 westward of the straight line which had been agreed upon. 

 It appears from Mr. Pennell's report that at the date of the 

 public inquiry the ground for which Mr. Anderson thus 

 continued to apply was entirely barren, and that it was 

 useless except for the special purpose of defining a con- 

 venient boundary. Mr. Anderson has not attempted to 

 cultivate it, and it remains in the same bare state in which 

 Mr. Pennell describes it as formerly being. The order 

 therefore can make no claim to continued existence, 

 except upon the score of fulfilling its special function. 

 This claim it no longer possesses. Mr. Anderson is not 

 now lessee of Lord Morton's fishery, and the Mid Forth 

 ground projects by its whole length beyond any other 

 ground held by him. At the same time, it is not required 

 for the protection of Lord Morton's fishery, the eastern 

 limit of which lies so nearly along a straight line drawn 

 from Burntisland West Pier to the shore end of Granton 

 West Pier that its recognition on the side covered by the 

 Mid Forth fishery could never present any difficulty. 



