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another, and, just as the poHceman who stops your cab at 

 the street corner, to allow a cross current of traffic to pass, 

 is justified in thus interfering with your freedom of move- 

 ment, so the Government is justified in regulating the 

 movements of fishing-boats at sea. Indeed it would fail 

 in its duty if it did not do so. It follows that the more 

 intimate acquaintance with all the intricacies and techni- 

 calities of the different modes of fishing, which would 

 result from the labours of the proposed Society, would be 

 of great service in enabling those regulations to be framed 

 with due regard to the special requirements of every 

 branch of an important industry. 



As I have already pointed out, one of the greatest evils 

 to which any industry can be subject is that of spasmodic 

 legislation — legislation framed to meet a popular cry of the 

 moment. Among a certain class of people whose view is 

 bounded by the horizon of their own particular standpoint, a 

 demand for legislation is heard on every imaginable pretext. 

 Soles are scarce : then trawlers must be abolished. A 

 " salmon disease " appears : therefore the salmon fisheries will 

 be ruined unless power is given to " stamp out " the plague. 

 Oysters are dear : hence dredging must be put a stop to. 

 The pilchard fishery is a failure : so drift nets ought to be 

 put down. Of the evil effects of legislating in a scare we 

 have had recent experience in the case already referred to 

 of the Scotch herring fisheries. By " keeping touch," to 

 use a familiar phrase, of the whole question of the fisheries, 

 not only in our own country but in every other part of the 

 world, a National Society would be able to gauge the real 

 value of popular cries like these, and, always feeling the 

 pulse of the patient, could furnish the data upon which the 

 doctor could judge whether a surgical operation, or a dose of 

 medicine, or a mere relaxation from restraint, was necessary. 



