34 THE FISHERIES. 



the time at which redoubled watchfulness should be 

 exercised will be only of short continuance. If frosts 

 set in about November, almost the whole of the 

 spawning will be completed before Christmas. Very- 

 stringent and summary provisions, to prevent night- 

 poaching on spawning-beds, are introduced into the 

 Bill, and we think them salutary and necessary : we 

 confess, indeed, we have no maudlin sensibihty for 

 the rights of the subject, as represented in the per- 

 son of a poacher, with torch, spear, or net in hands 

 upon the banks of a spawning river. We approve, 

 then, of the very summary powers and strong mea- 

 sures of protection contained in the Bill, and if we 

 adopt them we may then take into account the aid 

 which nature and adventitious circumstances will 

 supply. The number of salmon that will pass up 

 under the improved state of the law — the number 

 that will escape — the severities and difficulties of the 

 winter season — the protecting influence of floods, 

 and of discoloured water in the spawning time — the 

 short time required for the actual deposition of the 

 spawn ; all these circumstances will aid us if we only 

 aid ourselves ; and our Salmon-fisheries may long 

 continue fruitful. The Bill before us unavoidably 

 contains voluminous and intricate provisions, which 

 are necessary to regulate the comphcated rights of 

 parties, or restrain the unlawful acts of poachers ; 

 but as regards the main question itself (the improve- 

 ment and restoration of the Salmon-fisheries), the 

 whole case lies in a nutshell. Passlno: over all sub- 



