54 



of such fishery, is liable to a penalty of not less than five, nor 

 more than forty shillings for each and every time such angler or 

 anglers shall be found so fishing without the consent of the 

 owner; to be recovered by complaint on oath before any one 

 justice of the peace. 



These are abstracts from the Laws for the protection of 

 salmon fisheries ; and in proof of their necessity, I may quote 

 from the evidence of Mr. Little, who says, " one great defect in 

 protecting the fisheries, is the unwillingness of the magistrates 

 to put the law into execution. They are unwilling to correct 

 and fine the poachers. There is a magistrate near the Bann, 

 who commands a troop of yeomanry, and he has been encou- 

 raging his men to kill the salmon. Last year we prosecuted 

 some of them, and got them convicted, but they appealed to the 

 Quarter Sessions ; and he procured bail for them, and came 

 himself to the Quarter Sessions to defend them : but, notwith- 

 standing his opposition, we ultimately convicted them at the 

 Quarter Sessions. The opposition in the country to the protec- 

 tion of the fishery is so great, that we are frequently obliged to 

 get the military to go with us to enforce the law. Some magis- 

 trates will not give themselves any trouble, as they say the 

 salmon are sent out of the country, and they get no benefit from 

 them. We have stake nets in Ireland at some places where 

 they have allowed us to set them; and we have attempted to put 

 stake nets in other places, where they have been cut down. 

 We have had our water-keepers very frequently shot at, and 

 we have had one actually killed in that district. I myself have 

 been shot at."* 



The expenses of protecting the Bann, Foyle, and Moy, 

 amount to 1,500/. or ],600/. yearly; 400 men are employed as 

 water-keepers, and 220 as fishermen. The present protection 

 is quite insufficient. The constabulary, or some other local 

 force, is necessary in carrying the laws into execution, as it 

 sometimes happens that bands of fifty or sixty poachers come 

 down on the water-keepers and attack them ; and smaller bands 



* See Report of 1824, page 128. 



