6 NATURAL HISTORY OF THE SALMON. 



constructive interpretations, every one must admit 

 that there is a difficulty, trouble, delay, and ex- 

 pence in putting them into execution, which may 

 be removed by a new act ; and since new me- 

 thods have been devised for evading the old laws, 

 new remedies must be suggested to meet such new 

 inventions. The two great deficiencies which mark 

 the whole of them, are, the want of a decided and 

 express power to keep the rivers open during a 

 certain part of the year, and to remove the fish 

 locks by express and not by implied terms. It does 

 not seem that the spear was known in ancient 

 times, as it is not mentioned in any act but the 

 local act of the 43d of the late king. All the 

 acts, too, are silent upon the power and duties of the 

 conservators, which may be explained and defined 

 by a new one. And whilst impervious and unlaw- 

 ful weirs, — avowed public nuisances, — are fixed 

 across rivers, as if on purpose to destroy the whole 

 species ; whilst gangs of idle, disorderly fellows 

 are employed by night and day in destroying the 

 fish by the spear when in the very act of shed- 

 ding its roe ; and whilst locks, traps, and hutches, 

 and all sorts of cunning devices are erected to 

 catch unseasonable fish in going up the rivers, and 

 to prevent the old back or spent fish from return- 

 ing to the sea, without allowing a chance or possi- 

 bility of escape by an aperture (called in Ireland, 

 the king's passage), it is no wonder that salmon 

 are so scarce and dear. Nothing, then, is wanting 

 to restore this excellent fish to its former abund« 



