( no ) 



Consequently two attempts luive been made ; if no clestructh^e 

 waste was occurring prior to these exj)eriments, uo aug- 

 mentation of the iisli in the lisheries would he apparent : 

 if moderate restrictions had extensively beneiieial results, 

 such might lead to the enquiry wliether it would not 

 be possible to extend such elsewhere, and give to others 

 benefits now confined to small localities, and due to 

 the individual exertions of single otfieials. In South 

 Canara, ^Jr. 11. S. Thomas observus, that (p. Ixxxix) it may 

 be doubted whetlier poisoning rivers, or the wholesale destruc- 

 tion of fry, is most injurious to fisheries ; whilst prohibiting the 

 former, and also the closely woven bamboo cruives " has been 

 that the most ignorant, and, therefore, the most obstinate 

 opponents have been convinced by the testimony of tlieir 

 own senses, and have exclaimed to use their own words, ' truly 

 the river is everywhere i«ii^i;i^ with fry ; ' and what is still 

 more to the point, their practice has not belied their words, 

 for they have taken to fishing on grounds that were before 

 considered profitless. * * * Two years' discouragement of 

 poisoning, and one year's discouragement of line cruives, has 

 worked such a change, that it has ])een demonstrated, 

 beyond the cavil, even of the ignorant and of the most inter- 

 estedly opposing, that marked advantages can be reaped from 

 the adoption of these two simple measures alone.'' This is 

 also interesting, because the Madras Revenue Board especially 

 selected South Canara (p. Ixxi) as one of the two Oollectorates, 

 wherein they urged Government to do nothing. In the 

 Doou, Mr. Ross, with the CDUsent of the landowners, has 

 limited the size of the mesh of the nets employed to not 

 less than Ig inches between each knot, and also prohibited 

 the damming and turning of hill streams for the ]Hu-pose of 

 capturing fish. I went to the Song lliver in 1871, and was 

 astonished at the amount of fry in it, reporting that " I never 

 saw so many yearlings in the plains of India in such a 

 small volume of running water." When I wrote this, I was 

 in entire ignorance that any conservative measures were 

 being carried out (p. cl). The foregoing showing that 

 restrictive regulations tend largely to an increase in the fish 

 supply, and are again arguments that some are generally 

 necessary, if this description of animal food is deemed worth 

 increasing, and its still further diminution undesirable. 



OXXII. What are the results of this enquiry t Here I 

 propose briefly bringing together what 



HcsuUs of thia enquiry. * ' , . •' ? i i i 



conclusions appear to me to be sliowu 

 b}' personal investigations, or from the answers received from 



