196 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



The disadvantages of this act are, that it justifies 

 the taking unsizeable and unseasonable fish. Salmon 

 peal, being young salmon, are all unsizeable, and 

 should not be taken, any more than salmon fry or 

 smelts. Nature, who is an unerring guide, should be 

 consulted in preference to the cunning suggestions 

 for private gain, which, however they may promote 

 the interest of individuals, are sure to end in 

 public mischief. It was a great misfortune for the 

 public that this act should have pronounced that to 

 be seasonable which neither was nor could be made 

 so ; the seasonableness of fish, as it varies so much 

 at every part of the year, as a matter of fact, 

 should have been made, as it was before, deter- 

 minable by the magistrate. 



We are now come to the consideration of the 

 last general act for the preservation of the salmon 

 fisheries, — its merits and demerits ; and I confess 

 it surprises me, that, in this enlightened age, some- 

 thing more to the purpose had not been produced. 

 How defective it is in many particulars will soon 

 appear. 



58 Geo. III. c. 43. 



1. Justices in sessions may appoint conservators to pro- 

 tect salmon and their fry. 



2. Where no provision is made for limiting the time for 

 taking salmon, and fish of the salmon kind in any rivers, 

 justices may, at the request of any person, first giving 

 notice of his intention in some newspaper, fix certain days, 

 not exceeding 150 in each year, for each river, to be fence 



