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that it will come up in an amended form next session. 

 Lord Harris's Bill, although it certainly did much to meet 

 the present want of control, was susceptible of improve- 

 ment in several respects, and it may be useful that I should 

 state briefly what the more important of the amendments 

 should be, in my opinion : — 



1°. The duty of inspecting and the power of prohibiting 

 removal of oysters from the layings should rest with the 

 Sea-Fishery Committees rather than with the County and 

 Borough Councils : — that is, these important functions 

 should be given to an authority concerned neither with the 

 trade aspects of the oyster industries nor with the medical 

 aspects of the sanitation of the neighbourhood, but to one 

 primarily concerned with the prosperity of the fisheries — 

 which includes their cultivation under healthy conditions. 

 The Sea-Fishery Committees are in a position to hold the 

 balance fairly between trade interests and sewage schemes. 

 It is true that at present some of the more important 

 oyster layings are not topographically within the jurisdiction 

 of the local Sea-Fishery Committees ; but that is a matter 

 which should be capable of easy remedy by an extension 

 of the powers of the Committees in so far as regards oysters 

 and other shell-fish. 



2°. From the point of view of public health, the sale of 

 oysters from any suspected laying should be stopped /or^/i- 

 with. Ten days' notice, or twenty-one days' notice in the 

 case of an appeal, if the oysters are infected, allows of the 

 possibility of an indefinite amount of damage to health. 

 Several epidemics might be started before the sale of the 

 oysters could be stopped. In this respect the provisions 

 of the Biil do not meet the present difficulty. 



3°. It is necessary that oysters should be [)rotected 

 from insanitary environment, not merely in the layings 



