208 STATUTE LAWS RELATING TO 



prevent the operation of the act, then the act is 

 altogether nugatory and useless ; for it is as plain 

 as demonstration can make any thing appear, that 

 if a fish-coop may be set across, and taking in, the 

 whole of a stream, so that no fish can pass or repass 

 without going into this trap, it ceases to be a ques- 

 tion, — it is an insult to common sense to make it 

 one, — whether the spawn can be preserved, or the 

 fisheries ultimately prosper. The law should judge 

 of these devices as they stood before the passing 

 of this act, and they should stand or fall by their 

 own merits. 



Every stream abounds with these fish-locks. 

 Many belong to gentlemen of rank and fortune in 

 this county, who ought to shew r a different exam- 

 ple ; and to exhibit to the public, by a liberality 

 of conduct, and an observance of the law them- 

 selves, where their true interest lies. But they 

 ingeniously profess that the spearers do all the mis- 

 chief. I grant that the spearers do enormous in- 

 jury, and it must be put a stop to, by some means 

 or other ; but if fish were plentiful, as they would 

 be but for the traps, and the various other ob- 

 structions, the practice of spearing would die of 

 itself; for the wretched spearer would have no 

 object in destroying an unseasonable, worthless 

 fish, when he would be able to buy a good whole- 

 some one at, perhaps, a penny or three half-pence 

 a pound again, as salmon have been known to be 

 bought within the memory of man. At present, 

 whilst the trap proprietor destroys a hundred 





