( ir^ ) 



ptat-os that a decrease in tlio tanlv -produced fish is l)elievcd 

 to liavc ()(!curre(l since the <listrict has formed a portion of 

 tlic ]?ritish territory : previously the people were prohihited 

 from killing fish in tanks unless they paid some fees or share 

 of fish to the local talukdar. If nallas ai'e completely 

 swept of fish, it is certain that tlic amount in the rivers will 

 likewise iall off. The Telisiklar of Nursitigpur (para. 2G4) 

 remarks, — " it is to this wholesale destruction of small fish 

 that the fish have decreased." In Madras, the Tchsildar of 

 Bhimavaram (para. 173) ohservcs, that it cannot he ascer- 

 tained if the fish have increased or decreased, " as every one 

 is allowed to fish as he likes since the aholition of the renting 

 system." In the North-Western Provinces, three tehsildars 

 in the Benares Division (p. clxxvii) consider that fish have 

 decreased, "owing to the indiscriminate destruction of the 

 young." 



LX. How were fisheries icorked under nalice rtde ? — 



Fisliciics, how woiked under IS a qUCStioU that but fcW haVC 



native rule. tlu'own any light upon; but still it 



appears that it is possible to ascertain this,* and that fisheries 

 formed royalties, mostly let out to contractors, who alone in 

 the districts possessed the right to sell fish, and that they 

 ])ermittcd the people on payment (para. 7) to capture fish 

 ibr their own consumption. In fact, it was a license on pay- 

 ment resumahle at loill, as in the British law (see j)ara. 88). 

 llemains of this custom still exist at Lahore (para. 27), and 

 the leasing of fisheries is even now jnirsued in many portions 

 of the Indian Empire. Thus, if the following reports are 

 looked through, it will be seen that tiie Deputy Connuis- 

 sioner of Kaugra (para. 30), in suggesting Avhat steps are 

 advisable in future with reference to the fisheries in liis 

 district, observes, these measures must be practically a system 

 of Government preserves, such as was always in force in the 

 time of the Ilajahs, partly by giving licenses to monopolists 

 to supply the market, and partly by licenses for fishing with 

 small nets for home consumption and not for sale. At 

 Lahore, as already remarked, the system still exists, and none 

 but the contractor may obtain fish for sale, and no one is 

 permitted to sell this article unless it goes through his hands. 

 Also ]?urma, where it appears pretty clear (p. cxciii) that in 

 the time of native rule, this identical jjlau was carried on, there 



* A mont useful enquiry would lie — liow were fislieries under native rule worked in jour 

 distrlrt ? Hut tlie investigation would be troublesome, and luobably trustworthy answers 

 could not be obtained. 



