NOTES ON OYSTEE CULTURE. 263 



cumstances, I found some considerable difRculfcy in tlie task, and 

 have therefore put together these few notes in the hope that they 

 may prove serviceable to others interested, by indicating in what 

 direction to search for information. It is to be remembered that 

 they apply only to England and Wales, the fisheries of the two 

 other countries being under the jurisdiction respectively of the 

 Scotch Fishery Board and of the Inspectors of Irish Fisheries. 



There is no need to refer in detail to the earlier legislation in the 

 matter ; in many places along the coast both private individuals and 

 co-operative bodies of dredgermen enjoy rights of several oyster 

 fishery under charters of greater or less age. The Whitstable Com- 

 pany is at present the best known of such societies ; the constitution 

 of another, under the jurisdiction of the City of Rochester, may be 

 read at length in the preamble to an Act of 1728 (2 Geo. II, c. 19) 

 which was framed in its defence. This society, which may be taken 

 as typical, was a close corporation of fishermen and dredgermen, ad- 

 mission to which was gained only by a seven years' apprenticeship 

 to a member ; it was governed by an " Admiralty Court,^' the 

 " jury " of which was elected partly from the dredgermen, partly 

 from the Corporation of Rochester. The jury decided upon the close 

 time, upon the temporary closure of any parts of the beds, and upon 

 the quantity or " stint " which any dredger might take in a day ; 

 the bailiffs appointed by them had the right to board suspected boats, 

 and to seize oysters or implements there found in contravention 

 of their rules, and also to impose fines and penalties on those who 

 disobeyed them. Similar Acts are 3 Vict., c. 59 (Faversham), and 

 22 and 23 Vict., c. 72 (Ipswich); and an Act of 1756 (30 Geo. II, c. 21) 

 permitted the City of London to make general fishery regulations 

 affecting the Thames and Medway. The earlier legislation Avill be 

 treated in detail in a general work on the Oyster, for which material 

 is at present being collected by Mr. Bourne and myself. 



The present period of legislative activity, the result of constant 

 complaints as to the scarcity of oysters, begins with the Heme Bay, 

 &c., Fishery Act, 1864 (27 and 28 Vict., c. 280) ; this was followed 

 by the Ham Oyster Fishery Act, 1865 (28 and 29 Vict., c. 147), and 

 the Roach River Oyster Fishery Act, 1866 (29 and 30 Vict., c. 145) ; 

 all these three created " rights of several oyster fishery " in favour 

 of the companies concerned. Facilities for further enterprise in this 

 direction were afforded by The Oyster and Mussel Fisheries Act, 1866 

 (29 and 30 Viet., c. 85), which arranged for the granting of private 

 rights of oyster and mussel fishery by means of Orders of the Board 

 of Trade ; most of its provisions were re-enacted by Part iii of the 

 Sea Fisheries Act, 1868 {([. v.), and the Act itself repealed ; no further 

 notice of it is therefore at present necessary. The Oyster Preserva- 



