178 THE SALMON. 



The sale of salmon was prohibited during the months in 

 which the fisheries are legally closed ; prohibit the ex- 

 port also. To preserve the fisheries, we had made laws 

 against selling stolen and unwholesome fish among our- 

 selves ; to allow the sale of the same commodity to our 

 neighbours, was not only an inconsistency, but was an 

 injustice both to our neighbours and ourselves. The 

 evil, too, was increasing, the export of 1862 having been 

 nearly double that of 1861. On the recommendation of 

 the Customs department, the Government introduced a 

 Bill, now law, prohibiting the export of unclean or un- 

 wholesome salmon at all times, and of "any salmon 

 caught during the time at which the sale of salmon is 

 prohibited in the district where it has been caught ;" the 

 burden of proving that the salmon entered for exporta- 

 tion are not so entered in contravention of the Act 

 being laid upon the exporter. The effect of this Act, in 

 co-operation with the clause in the other Acts prohibit- 

 ing the sale and use of salmon roe, has been very bene- 

 ficial ; and, although a considerable quantity of foul 

 salmon is still smuggled to the Paris market under false 

 entries, the Customs will doubtless fall upon some method 

 of stopping that evil and punishing the evil-doers. 



From this necessarily brief, rough, and imperfect 

 sketch, it will be seen that, as to one of the two chief 

 questions regarding salmon -fisheries i.e., the length 

 of the season the recent legislation for all the three 

 countries has tended in the same direction, and has 

 gone, in all the cases, pretty nearly the same length. 

 The annual close-time and the weekly close-time have 

 both been lengthened as to the commercial modes of 



