104 



THE FISHERIES. 



of the killing season, just at the period when the sal- 

 mon are running up to spawn, was, and is, of the 

 most vital injury to the Salmon-fisheries. The error 

 is, that with engines of capture vastly improved since 

 1722, a prolonged period of capture was appointed 

 by the Board — the reverse should have been the 

 course adopted : as the means of destruction are in- 

 creased, the opportunity for reproduction should be 

 enlarged, not diminished — additional waste, addi- 

 tional compensation, will be now, and always, a good 

 maxim, or rather axiom, of Salmon-fishing. 



But when the sanction of a public Board is given 

 to an error, or series of errors, however manifest, it 

 is difficult to combat them ; nevertheless, the task 

 was undertaken, and more particularly upon this is- 

 sue respecting the close season, as it is the very 

 corner-stone of the well-being of the Salmon-fisheries. 

 The demonstration was first attempted with the 

 Commissioners themselves; there it utterly failed. 

 It was next submitted to the test of pubUc opinion, 

 in the public prints; and, finally, an opportunity 

 was taken durino- the sittino;s of the Commission of 

 Inquiry, held in 1844, to submit it to Parhament 

 and the Government in a documentary form, and 

 under the sanction of an oath. This, we believe, 

 settled the question; the document we refer to* 

 having been published in the Fourth Annual Report 

 of the Commissioners of Fisheries to Parliament, 



* See Appendix, p 129. 



