26 



so far from its being' plausible^ that the heritors on 

 the lower parts of the rivers should be allowed to 

 fish longer than those in the upper, the very re- 

 verse of all this should take place if any difference 

 in the period of beginning and ending of the 

 close time, should prevail in the same river. After 

 all, it should seem to be much more agreeable to 

 common sense, that all the fishing on the same 

 river should begin at one and the same time. 

 But whether that time should remain as at present, 

 or whether it should be altered and adapted to the 

 different rivers ; whether there should not be two 

 separate seasons of fishing in each year, the one 

 beginning at the first ascent of the fish, and end- 

 ing when the fry began to move, and the other 

 from the time when the fry had nearly all reach- 

 ed the sea, until the spawning fish began to 

 ascend, all these and other questions can easily be 

 settled when the present laws are not only de- 

 clared but pnt into actual execution. 



I shall only remark farther, that in treating of 

 this subject, it is not easy to reason from any but 

 probable arguments. We can only infer what 

 would ensue on the supposition that either party 

 were to prevail. At present, there is no river, 

 where the fishing is regularly carried on, which is 

 entirely free from yairs, cruives or stake-nets, and 

 at the same time so well protected from poaching, 

 as to afford proof of what the fishing in general 

 * would blunder the operation of such a Bill as 



