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entitled "The Herring, and the Herring Fisheries," by Mr. 

 de Caux. Mr. de Caux is quite at one with me as to the 

 impracticability of establishing a close time, but he proposes 

 to re-enact the provision contained in the 48th of Geo. III., 

 Chap, no, regulating the size of the mesh of the herring 

 net. Now this question is very exhaustively dealt with by 

 the Commissioners of 1878. They point out that a law 

 regulating the mesh could not be enforced, except by an 

 International Convention, beyond three miles from the 

 shore. A new Convention has just been concluded with 

 Foreign Powers, and a Bill is now before Parliament to 

 give effect to it, but the Convention declined to entertain 

 the question of the mesh. 



Another objection to reducing the size of the mesh is 

 that such a regulation would interfere with the sprat and 

 garvie fishing. I may here assume, without raising any 

 controversial point, that sprats and garvies are not young 

 herrings. Sprats and garvies supply a considerable amount 

 of wholesome food, and it would be unfair to prohibit these 

 fishings on the mere chance of increasing the number of 

 herrings. 



A further objection is that the cotton nets, now in 

 universal use, are subject to shrinking at every fresh bark- 

 ing, and fishermen might thus unwittingly be led into an 

 infraction of the law. These difficulties to regulating the 

 size of the mesh, combined with the experience we have 

 had of legislative enactments in Scotland, cause me to 

 differ on this point with Mr. de Caux. 



The Act which he desires to pass for the English 

 fisheries is still nominally in force in Scotland, but for the 

 reasons I have stated it has been found to be inoperative, 

 and the newly organized Scotch Fishery Board in their 

 first report, issued last month, recommend the repeal of the 



