VIU PREFACE. 



the fisheries; and as far as my humble ability 

 permitted — to demonstrate it: and as the sys- 

 tem I detailed has been since, in some of its 

 most essential features, transferred into the 

 statute law of the land, by means of bye-laws; 

 and as the remaining portion of it, may also, in 

 like manner, be finally absorbed and carried 

 into operation, it is a very natural wish on my 

 part to assert and record the ownership. 



Whatever other causes I may have of just 

 dissatisfaction — the circumstances would war- 

 rant a much harsher phrase — I am by no means 

 displeased with this manner of appropriating 

 my thoughts and labours; nor is it any source 

 of exultation to me, that some of the most im- 

 portant principles of the system here delineated, 

 to which a persevering and steady resistance 

 had been offered for many years, have been 

 since quietly and unostentatiously adopted. 



That the Salmon-fisheries of this kingdom 

 were vitally injured some years back, by pro- 

 jects and theories then for the first time pro- 

 mulgated, is not anywhere denied: the injury 



