96 THE FISHERIES. 



and the legal advisers of the Government are the 

 proper parties to decide. 



But as the discussion which took place in the late 

 House of Commons, on the motion for the second 

 reading of the Fisheries Bill, introduced by Mr. 

 Conolly, does not seem to augur favourably for the 

 views of those, who seek the total abolition of those 

 fixtures, it might be useful, should the present Go- 

 vernment be averse to introduce any very sweeping 

 measure as regards those fixtures, here to inquire 

 what practical means can be adopted to lessen the 

 evil, and confine the operation of the statute to its 

 strict letter, making it conformable with the evident 

 intent and meaning of the Legislature in framing it. 

 We shall endeavour to state our views, and make 

 our suggestions on this head, with as much brevity 

 as possible. First. — We conceive, that a rule for 

 defining the mouths of rivers, should be appointed by 

 the Legislature. In the Act of 1842, a power to fix 

 the mouths of rivers in Ireland, was given to the 

 Commissioners of the Board of Works; which power 

 has been exercised by them in an arbitrary manner, 

 ■without any regard whatever to scientific rules. 

 We may give, as one out of many instances, the me- 

 tropolitan river — the Lifi^ey. The Board of Works, 

 in 1843, fixed its mouth three miles inside its natural 

 or nautical mouth : this, in legal parlance, was a 

 fraud upon the power — an undue exercise of the ob- 

 ligation imposed by the Legislature. A mere refer- 

 ence to the Admiralty charts would have enabled the 



