4 
The work also brought me in contact with Dr. Day, ex- 
Inspector of Fisheries in India, and until his death we were 
close friends. 
Again, I had another source of information as to what 
was being done in America, for I had the pleasure of 
numbering Professor Baird, the head of the U.S. Fishery. 
Commission, among my personal. friends, and was. in 
constant communication with him until his premature death. 
-I. merely mention these facts to point out the oppor- 
tunities I have had of learning something about the 
conditions of our Sea Fisheries. 
You will agree with me that in a great affair of this sort it 
is very foolish to pass laws before you know what you are 
doing. When this Sea Fisheries Bill was first proposed 
I thought it would probably be. a very good thing, as 
greater opportunities of. obtaining information would be 
afforded. 
The County Council having got the powers I was shocked 
to find that, the idea that seemed -to possess them was not 
that information should be sought, but that something must 
be done to stop some people from doing something; the ques- 
tion was to find out what that something was, but something 
it must be. Many years ago this same question was 
brought up. The question of the exhaustion of-our Sea 
Fisheries is practically -as: old.as -the hills, in spite of the - 
fact that the yield increases every year... There is.I believe 
