168 APPENDIX. 



grounds, with all other due appliances ; and so this 

 great national resource has been developed, as it 

 ought to be, on a great national scale. 



Do we in Ireland ask, or even hope for, these 

 things ? No : it would be useless to expect it. The 

 whole present expenditure upon the Fisheries of 

 Ireland by the Government, amounts to £1200, 

 which sum is passed in the votes at the same time 

 that £14,000 per annum is voted for the Scotch 

 Fisheries : we have for our administrative and ex- 

 ecutive department, two Inspecting Commissioners 

 and a clerk : and when these two efficient officers 

 are absent in the provinces on harassing duties, and 

 the clerk is up-stairs attending the Board of Works, 

 the fishery office is shut up, and any one who calls 

 must call again. This burlesque upon a Government 

 department should cease — either the department 

 should be made an efficient one, or should be done 

 away with altogether. 



The inland fisheries form another important sub- 

 ject. France is going a-head in this direction, and 

 a new system to improve their river fisheries is just 

 now being put in operation by the French Govern- 

 ment — I mean that for stocking rivers and lakes by 

 artificial means. This system cannot be resorted to 

 generally in Ireland by proprietors of fisheries, for 

 in few cases could the proprietor expect to catch any- 

 thing but a very small proportion of the fish so pro- 

 pagated and reared by him; the remainder would 

 be caught in the sea, by owners of other fisheries, as 



