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apply to Bailiff Wright.” Providence and the laws of 
political economy make such a fearful mess when they tackle 
fishing questions that we have put a-water bailiff on to 
manage this part for them. It is fortunate that in this 
capacity we have such an incarnation of wisdom. The 
only explanation of all this is that the subject is so obscure 
that the gentlemen who compose the authority feel out of - 
their depth, and trust to their scientific advisers. But it is 
a serious responsibility to plead this. I hope by the time I 
have done to show you the misery that is being wrought, 
and I am sure you will agree with me that it is not too 
much to ask these gentlemen to study the subject, and not 
to trust to such wildly unpractical advisers. 
In the Exhibition of the Sea Fisheries Committee you 
have a collection of what is supposed to be. the food of 
fishes. I will not weary you by dealing with them all, I 
will deal with the cod as a fair sample ofthe whole. They 
have put there two or three crabs, and a shrimp or two, 
and something cf that sort. It is, of course, to the interest 
of their case to minimise the other destructive forces of 
Nature, and magnify that of man. They say that is 
the result of examining the contents of cod stomachs 
at the Liverpool Laboratory. Very well, possibly it may 
be so. They ignore the fact, well-known to all fisher- 
men, that when fishes are in extreme danger, say in a 
net or caught with a line, they are in the habit of 
