264 NOTES ON OYSTER CULTURE. 



tion Act, 1867 (30 Vict., c. 18), concerned with tlie better protection 

 of such private fisheries as might be constituted under the last Act, 

 was also embodied in the Act of 1868 and was itself repealed. 



The Sea Fisheries Act, 1868 (31 and 32 Vict., c. 46), forms, together 

 with the Act of 1888, the main body of the legislation by which sea 

 fisheries are at present regulated ; Part iii of this Act is exclusively 

 concerned with the 03'ster and mussel fisheries of England, and the 

 following are its most important provisions : — '^ An Order for the 

 Establishment or Improvement and for the Maintenance and Regu- 

 lation of an Oyster and Mussel Fishery on the Shore and Bed of 

 the Sea, or of an Estuary or Tidal River above or below or partly 

 above and partly below Low -water Mark " may be made by the Board 

 of Trade on the presentation of a memorial to the Board to that 

 effect, after due notice given to all persons concerned as " Owners or 

 reputed Owners, Lessees or reputed Lessees, or Occupiers (if any) of 

 the portion of the Sea Shore to which the proposed Order relates'^; and 

 after an inquiry held by the Board^s Inspector on the spot (evidence 

 may be taken on oath) and the consideration of his report. Such 

 an Order is to be confirmed by Act of Parliament before it can 

 take effect (but cf. infra, 40 and 41 Yict., c. 42) ; and if a petition 

 against it should be presented in the course of its passage through 

 Parliament, it is to be referred to a Select Committee and there op- 

 posed as a private Bill. All the expenses of the Order are to be 

 borne by the promoters. The Order grants, for a period not ex- 

 ceeding sixty years {cf. 48 and 49 Vict., c. 79) either a Bight of 

 several Oyster and Mussel Fishery, i, e. "the exclusive right of de- 

 positing, propagating, dredging, and fishing for, and taking Oysters 

 and Mussels,^' and permission to the grantees to " make and main- 

 tain Oyster and Mussel Beds, or either of them, and at any Season 

 collect Oysters and Mussels, and remove the same from Place to Place, 

 and deposit the same as and where they think fit " within the limits 

 of the Fishery ; or a Right of regulating an Oyster and Mussel Fishery 

 with power to carry out restrictions on the fishery and to exact tolls 

 from persons fishing. The grounds over which the grant extends 

 must be duly buoyed or marked out. The Order is determinable at 

 any period by a Certificate of the Board to the effect that they are 

 not satisfied that the ground is being properly cultivated, or that 

 the regulations are not being properly enforced, and an inquiry 

 may be held by the Board's Inspector to ascertain how far this is 

 the case. A special clause states that no Order " shall take 

 away or abridge any Right of several Fisliery, or any Right on, 

 to, or over any portion of the Sea Shore, which right is enjoyed 

 by any person under any Local or Special Act of Parliament, 

 or any Royal Charter, Letters Patent, Prescription, or imme- 



