LEGAL ASPECTS OF FISHERIES 89 



and so to encourage the taking up of the fore- 

 shore. Referring to this in the Report, it is 

 stated : ' The Board has been able to reduce the 

 cost to about ;^I0, but nevertheless it is a matter 

 of regret that this valuable Statute has not been 

 taken advantage of to a much greater extent' 



' The Board is not disposed to look with much 

 favour on grants being made, except on very 

 rigid conditions, to the individual owners of 

 adjacent property, but there is no reason why the 

 fishermen themselves should not, under an Order, 

 take the cultivation of oysters or mussels, or both, 

 into their own hands, by means of a committee of 

 their own appointment.' 



With reference to oyster beds, it is stated 

 later on : ' The beds must be made the actual 

 property of some one person or some one com- 

 munity.' And with regard to mussels (p. xxvi) : 

 ' A bed of mussels naturally lends itself to the 

 work of revival, and the management required 

 would be inexpensive. The Board entirely agree 

 in the opinion expressed by Professor MTntosh, 

 in a published pamphlet, that if properly and 

 Avisely managed, a mussel fishery will rapidly 

 repay the small initial expense, and might indeed 

 be made largely profitable.' 



