142 APPENDIX. 



last six years, and there is a board, I believe, to sit 

 upon the subject on Wednesday next, at the Custom- 

 house : but the Commissioners, like other men who 

 have fixed salaries, are not averse '•' to let well enough 

 alone" — the ^' Dolee far nieute" is pleasant to them 

 in this matter; and although applications from all 

 parts of Ireland are before them, to decide this ques- 

 tion, it is more than probable they will not decide it 

 at all. 



A concise Act of Parliament is the desideratum, 

 meeting the difiiculties, and deciding them by positive 

 enactment : at present we are all at sea. The Fish- 

 ery Act is everything, or nothing, and the conse- 

 quence is, as the honourable Member for Cork stated, 

 " that the fisheries are dwindling away to nothing." 

 Salmon is at this moment worth more than one shil- 

 ling per pound in every part of Ireland ; the public 

 feel this no doubt, but they do not inquire the cause ; 

 it is caused by the great scarcity of salmon every- 

 where, and this latter is caused, solely, by the de- 

 fective laws upon the subject. 



The Fisheries are said to be a mine of wealth to 

 the public if properly cultivated ; but it would seem 

 as if the perversity of man prevented this mine from 

 being worked; they are in gradual process of ex- 

 tinction, and this arises from causes flagrantly open 

 to those who understand the subject. The matter 

 well demands the prompt attention of the Govern- 

 ment. Cheap food is one of the " great facts " of 

 the present day. To produce it from the land re- 



