262 NOTES ON OYSTER CULTURE. 



of otherwise worthless foreshore is judged to have capabilities for 

 oyster or mussel culture, there crop up municipal charters, private 

 charters, manorial rights, ducal rights, and what not, backed gene- 

 rally by wealth which can crush intruders with long and expensive 

 lawsuits. Sir T. H. Farrer has expressed himself clearly on the 

 matter : — '' Where there were any rights below low watermark on the 

 bed of the sea, there it was provided by a clause inserted in the Bill 

 [of 1868] by the House of Lords that those Orders [of the Board, of 

 Trade which are described below, p. 264] should give no power what- 

 ever; and as there exist a number of rights — some very clear and some 

 very shadowy — over the foreshore and bed of the sea, under all sorts 

 of feudal grants and charters, and prescriptions, it is a question to 

 say whether that restriction may not have had a very injurious effect 

 both in preventing people from applying for Orders and in preventing 

 the grant or due operation of such Orders. '' (Rep. Sel. Comm. Oyster 

 Fisheries 1876, Farrer 7.) It is true that under Part iii of the Sea 

 Fisheries Act, 1868, a right of several oyster fishery may be granted 

 by the Board of Trade, but this only after filing of petitions, inquiry 

 by a Government Inspector, examination of witnesses — itself a tedious 

 and expensive process* and a check to private enterprise. Nor is 

 this vagueness of title a cause of trouble in oyster fisheries only, but 

 in estuarine fisheries of all kinds. An Act requiring that by a cer- 

 tain date all titles to estuarine and foreshore rights should be satis- 

 factorily proved and registered with the Board of Trade, and vesting 

 foreshores not so claimed in the Crown, would commit no real in- 

 justice and would prevent much. 



II. Notes on Eecent Legislation eelative to English Oyster 



Fisheries. 



When desirous lately to ascertain the state of the law relative 

 to oyster culture in England, and the working of that part of the Sea 

 Fisheries Act, 1868, which permits the Board of Trade to grant 

 " rights of several oyster fishery " to applicants under certain cir- 



* "A fee of tliirty-five pounds has to be paid to the Board of Trade in respect of Fishery 

 Orders under Part iii of the Sea Fisheries Act, 1868, and a deposit of the same amount has 

 also to be made to cover the travelling and personal expenses of the Inspector when making 

 the inquiry ;" but this appears to be a small item in the total legal expenses. For this and 

 for other information, most courteously rendered, I am indebted to the Fisheries Depart- 

 ment of the Board of Trade. The author of a recent work on this subject (S. A. Moore, 

 A History of the Foreshore. London, 1888. Svo.) is extremely severe upon the Board of 

 Trade for not adjudicating on these claims when brought under their notice; but examina- 

 tion of title can hardly be said to be among their already varied functions. 



