( no ) 



Consequently two attempts have been made ; if no destructive 

 waste was occurring; prior to these experiments, no aug- 

 mentation of the fish in the fisheries would be apparent : 

 if moderate restrictions had extensively beneficial results, 

 such might lead to the enquiry whether it would not 

 be possible to extend such elsewhere, and give to others 

 benefits now confined to small localities, and due to 

 the individual exertions of single officials. In South 

 Canara, Mr. R. S. Thomas observes, that (p. lxxxix) it may 

 be doubted whether poisoning rivers, or the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of fry, is most injurious to fisheries ; whilst prohibiting the 

 former, and also the closely woven bamboo cruives " has been 

 that the most ignorant, and, therefore, the most obstinate 

 opponents have been convinced by the testimony of their 

 own senses, and have exclaimed to use their own words, ' truly 

 the river is everywhere bubbling with fry ; ' and what is still 

 more to the point, their practice has not belied their words, 

 for they have taken to fishing on grounds that were before 

 considered profitless. * * * Two years' discouragement of 

 poisoning, and one year's discouragement of fine cruives, has 

 worked such a change, that it has been demonstrated, 

 beyond the cavil, even of the ignorant and of the most inter- 

 estedly opposing, that marked advantages can be reaped from 

 the adoption of these two simple measures alone.'' This is 

 also interesting, because the Madras Revenue Board especially 

 selected South Canara (p. lxxi) as one of the two Collectorates, 

 wherein they urged Government to do nothing. In the 

 Doon, Mr. Ross, with the consent of the landowners, has 

 limited the size of the mesh of the nets employed to not 

 less than 1^ inches between each knot, and also prohibited 

 the damming and turning of hill streams for the purpose of 

 capturing fish. I went to the Song River in 1871, and was 

 astonished at the amount of fry in it, reporting that " I never 

 saw so many yearlings in the plains of India in such a 

 small volume of running water." When I wrote this, I was 

 in entire ignorance that any conservative measures were 

 being carried out (p. cl). The foregoing showing that 

 restrictive regulations tend largely to an increase in the fish 

 supply, and are again arguments that some are generally 

 necessary, if this description of animal food is deemed worth 

 increasing, and its still further diminution undesirable. 



CXXII. What are the results of this enquiry ? Here I 



propose briefly bringing together what 



Eesults of this enquiry. r r , . ^ » & => , , 



conclusions appear to me to be shown 

 by personal investigations, or from the answers received from 



