Centennial Meeting. 33 



accomplish these very desirable ends ; for I think that, if we can 

 establish the law of supply and demand, of increase and of 

 decrease of our estuary fishes, each species for itself, we shall 

 accomplish the greatest result that has ever been accomplished 

 in fish culture. Of that I have no doubt. It has never been 

 done in Europe. The great investigation which was undertaken 

 in England in regard to the fisheries of that kingdom, had upon 

 the Board appointed for that purpose no less a man than Mr. 

 Huxley, and had also Mr. Shaw Lefevre, a well-known Member 

 of Parliament, and a gentleman of high attainments, and their 

 report was published in very voluminous form. And yet I say 

 it boldly when I say that the French were quite right when they 

 declared that the information thus acquired was utterly worthless, 

 one way or the other. The manner in which it was acquired 

 made it utterly worthless. The gentlemen appointed to make 

 the investigation went to the different sea-port towns of the 

 United Kingdom, and they there took the testimony of the 

 fishermen. Now, the fishermen are divided into two opposite 

 parties — what we call " the crawlers," or drag-net men, and the 

 hook-and-line men, and each hated the other. The consequence 

 was that " the crawlers " swore up and down in one direction, 

 and the hook-and-line men in the other, the testimony of either 

 side being thus made utterly valueless. Their bread depended 

 on their method of fishing, the support of their wives and 

 families depended on it ; and the consequence was that each 

 party swore to its own notions on the subject. Now, if, instead 

 of pursuing that method of investigation, we could go and look 

 for ourselves, as Prof. Baird has already done for himself, and 

 as has been done in other directions to a limited extent, I say we 

 would obtain a mass of information in regard to our coast 

 fisheries greater than has been obtained in any way heretofore. 



