eci 



the general public will be benefitted, for, as the supply augments, prices 

 will fall. However, as the native official at Akyab pithily remarks, 

 " more could be sold, but if more were brought to market, the price would 

 fall, and then perhaps it would not pay the fisherman.'-' Looking at both, 

 sides of the question, one'naturally considers— are the fish simply for the 

 good or gain of the fisherman, or to be employed in the most advantageous 

 manner for the benefit of the people at large ? 



378. As a temporary measure, and solely in order to meet strong 



local objections, I would not propose to 

 Present propositions as tem- carry ut at once measures that are certainly 



obSionT 5111 ' 6 t0 ° bViate l0CUl ver y desirable, but to work by degrees. In 



this way I feel sure that eventually the local 

 officers will see the necessity or advantage of conservancy being fully 

 established everywhere, except in tanks which yearly dry up, and after 

 all watery communication with flowing streams has been naturally 

 cut off. I would, therefore, propose as a commencement that (1) no 

 fixed engines of any description be permitted either in rivers, streams, 

 tanks, irrigated fields, or water-courses, unless such are leased fisheries, 

 whilst it would be very advisable to insist upon 1 inch between the 

 interstices of all substances forming such. These would have to be dealt 

 with at a future date, as the fish commence to increase ; (2) that a 

 mesh of 1 inch between knot and knot be the minimum size permitted 

 in any nets employed in free fisheries or along the banks of any river; 

 (3) nets and weirs for the capture of prawns might he exempted, pro- 

 vided the latter did not extend above 30 feet in length, such distance 

 not being" more than one quarter of the breadth of the river, at low 

 water, at the place where they are being used ; (4?) that poisoning of 

 waters to obtain fish be strictly prohibited. 



379. The answers to the questions on Burmese fisheries, circulated 



at my request by General Fytche in 18(>9, 



t , A . ns To C S n t0 T lc f ° ns ? ir ? la " have not as yet * been received (September 

 ted in 1869 not yet received. , __ rt . , . , •. , , v l 



18/2), which is to be regretted. 



380. The Chief Commissioner of British Burma (Sir. Eden) 



proposed (April 4th, 1872) that in future, 

 _ Proposals of Chief Commis- ^^ j easm „ fisheries, " no lessee of a lake 

 sioner. n , ° v , , 



fishery, nor any person licensed to use nets 



and traps in rivers, shall use a net haviug a mesh of less than -i inches 

 in circumference, that is, 1 inch from knot to knot, nor any weir having 

 less than 1 inch between the bamboos, rattan, reed, or other substance 

 of which such weir is composed. Provided that this shall not apply to 

 the use of weirs of not more than 30 feet in length, or \ the breadth 

 of the stream or river in which they are placed, whichever may be 

 the shorter, where such weirs are used solely for the purpose of catching 

 prawns." Dams to be prohibited. Subsequently (July 19th, 1872) the 

 Officiating Secretary to the Chief Commissioner observed, — " the report of 

 the Committee of experienced officers to the effect that the prohibition 

 contaiued in sections 18 and 19 (above) of the provisional rules would 

 necessitate the entertainment of an expensive establishment of inspect- 

 ors, and that a considerable loss of revenue would be occasioned thereby, 

 seemed to the Chief Commissioner sufficient grounds for modifying 

 these sections." The Committee observed, first, as regards the minimum 



