29 



CHAPTER IV. 



PROGRESS OF LEGISLATION. 



IN accordance with the recommendation of the Commission, a 

 ' Bill for the Improvement of the Sea Coast Fisheries of Ireland' 

 was prepared and brought in, in April, 1 838, and, after committal, 

 and deferral several times, was finally abandoned for that 

 session. It contained provisions for the Board of Public 

 Works to make grants in aid of the construction and erection 

 of small harbours, piers, and quays, on the sea coast, to an 

 amount not exceeding 2,000 for each, and for the useful 

 purposes of providing boat-slips, moorings, capstans, and small 

 harbour lights, upon one moiety being paid down, or raised by 

 public assessment ;* and also to empower the board to grant 

 loans to societies established for the purpose of making loans 

 to fishermen, to enable them to procure, repair, or fit out boats.f 

 This latter clause was omitted in the subsequent bill. 



Early in 1841, a draft of a bill for consolidating and amend- 

 ing the laws was prepared and printed ; the preamble sets forth, 

 * that further provisions and regulations should be made for the 

 encouragement and protection of the Irish fisheries ;' this bill 

 was reiterated in the following year, with some alterations, and 

 the omission of the introductory allusion to " encouragement/' 

 and, after some discussion, but a remarkable unanimity of 

 parties in approbation of its general principles, it passed both 

 nouses on the 10th of August, 1842, as the statute 5th and 6th 

 Victoria, cap. 106, entitled, " An Act to Regulate the Irish 

 Fisheries." 



THE BILL OP 1842. 



During the consideration of the measures proposed by the 

 bill of 1842, strong objection having been taken to the prin- 

 ciple of recognising the use of Fixed Nets in the sea and 

 tideways, a pamphlet was published, (Irish Fisheries' Bill 

 Memoranda, London, 4th| July, 1842,) in which the subject 

 was succinctly and ably discussed. The following extracts con- 

 tain the bulk of the arguments advanced, with such comments 

 as they call forth. The subject was divided into these two 

 points of view : 



1st. The state of the law prior to 1842, as relates to the 

 use of these Engines. 



* Agreeably to the 8th section in the Eemedial measures recommended to be 

 adopted. 



tAgreeably to the 12th section. 



t The bill to ' regulate the Irish Fisheries' (as amended by the Committee) is 

 dated 5th July, 1842. 



