33 
line-fishing had a good effect, and increased the quantity 
of fish instead of diminishing them. 
Mr. WELFARE (Worthing) said most of what he intended 
to say had already been said before. He had had thirty- 
five years’ experience, and he had known the time when 
there was abundance of fish in Rye Bay, and other bays on 
the coast, but it was not so now, and it was well known 
that the real cause was the wholesale destruction of the 
young fry ; you might often see soles not an inch in length, 
and turbot about as big as a whiting. During the last 
eight or ten years a great many more fish had been 
brought in and destroyed or used for manure, than were fit 
for food. In 1878, when he gave evidence before the 
Commission, on which the late Mr. Buckland and Mr. 
Spencer Walpole sat, he laid down what he thought would 
be suitable sizes for all fish to be brought into the market, 
and he thought if legislation followed those lines the 
supply might be increased four-fold. If he had the power 
of a despot, he would do what the late Emperor Napoleon 
did with regard to the oyster. In 1862 England imported 
oysters to France, but later on, through the discretion of 
the Emperor Napoleon in preserving oysters, the tables 
were turned, and we were now almost depending on France 
for our supply. Fish spawned at different seasons accord- 
ing to the kind and locality. In the West of England the 
spawning began earliest, and protection for the young fry 
was required the same as for the produce of the land. He 
would not say much about theory, but he considered the 
present state of the fisheries was entirely due to theorists. 
Professor Huxley made the remark at Norwich that he 
would allow fishermen to fish when, where, how, and as 
they liked. It appeared to him that a steward might as 
well tell a nobleman when the first fruits of the estate 
[41] D 
