64 



so also with the herring fishery. A commission was appointed 

 to make enquiries as to the possible exhaustion of the fisheries 

 of Great Britain, and their report stated that our " total fish 

 supplies have not diminished, and that the fish supply of the 

 United Kingdom admits of further augmentation, the limits 

 of which are not indicated by any evidence we have been able 

 to obtain ; " but Chamhers remarks : — " The Commissioners 

 unfortunately omitted to take into account the enormous aug- 

 mentation of the machinery of capture. In former times a 

 line containing 800 hooks would, as a rule, catch 800 haddocks, 

 but now a line of 800 hooks does not (as a rule) capture an 

 eighth of that number. The public have been deceived by 

 false reports of the inexhaustibility of our fish supplies, and 

 are at length beginning to find that the increased machinery 

 which has been brought into play for the capture of fish 

 during late years is telling with deadly effect on the shoals. 



Here in Tasmania are fisheries none of which except the 

 oyster fishery has been quite ruined. Why should we not 

 learn from experience ? No doubt there is some difficulty 

 attached to legislation on the subject, but that is the more 

 reason why we should earnestly consider the matter. It seems 

 to me that any other law than the present one relating to 

 oysters would have had a more beneficial effect ; it certainly 

 was next to impossible to have framed one having more disas- 

 trous effects. If there had been a larger amount to pay for a 

 licence, men would either not have engaged in the business, or 

 if they had, it would have drawn attention to the profitable- 

 ness of the trade. Had no licence been required, the outside 

 public would have entered into competition with those whose 

 path in life was more connected with the sea, and a sufficient 

 consensus of opinion would soon have forced a sensible law to 

 be framed. But a short residence in Tasmania has given me 

 knowledge of a fact which I was unprepared for, viz., that 

 though laws may be framed, there is not that determination to 

 abide by them which is the grand characteristic of the English 

 nation. People instead of arguing that the laws are unjust, 

 and therefore ought not to be obeyed, should use their influence 

 in getting them altered. 



A glaring instance of disregard for the law connected 

 with fisheries I feel justified in mentioning. Constantly 

 during the close season for salmon and trout, one or other, or 

 both, may be seen for sale in Hobart. It is quite possible that 

 fish may be caught by accident, and there may have been no 

 intentional disobedience of the law ; but who is to know ? The 

 law should in such a case confiscate the fish and impose a fine. 

 The magistrates should have no option. 



