Jut, even such as the change is, it is not, it would appear, 

 o be conceded without an equivalent. These disinte- 

 ested legislators propose, that, as the close time is extend- 

 ed, on the one hand ; so, in like manner, and, as it were, 

 o make amends, the fishing season shall be prolonged, on 

 he other : in short, that instead of ending on 26th Au- 

 rust as it does under the present law, it shall not end until 

 5th September. Now, if the proposed extension of the 

 lose time is not calculated to do good, this extension of 

 he fishing season would do positive harm : for, during 

 he period involved in it, as has been shewn in the pre- 

 eding pages, the fishery cannot be carried on without 

 ntercepting the spawning fish as they enter upon the 

 pawning ground, and thereby occasioning a destruction 

 f the brood infinitely beyond what takes place even un- 

 er the present regulations. 



The proposed alteration, then, instead of remedying 

 the evils of the present law, is calculated to aggravate 

 them in no slight degree ; and to hold it forth as * an 

 < object of great importance to the public,' is downright 

 mockery. In truth, this part of the Bill is the merest 

 pretext in the world, and has obviously been introduced 

 only as a colour for promoting designs which dare not 

 openly be avowed. 



This, accordingly, leads us to the second important 

 branch of the measure, the rea/, though covert object of 

 the Bill. 



Now this, there needs be no hesitation in affirming, is 

 not merely to procure, indirectly, the sanction of a 

 British statute to the old prohibitions of the Scots acts, 

 under which the fishing by stake-nets in friths and estu- 

 aries has been declared illegal ; but, farther, to extend 



