38 



' 3rd. It is clear that the settlement, to be lasting and valuable to 

 the public, must be equitable. 



' 4th. It is manifest and admitted, that the proprietors in the in- 

 terior will derive great advantages from the operation of the Act, from 

 which they are now, and without the Act must continue to be debarred. 



1 5th. And it may be perceived from this paper, that to add to these 

 advantages of the upper proprietors, by depriving the proprietors on 

 the coast, of the right to use these engines, could form no part of an 

 equitable settlement, and would really be injurious, instead of con- 

 ducive, to the public weal.' Pamphlet on Irish Fisheries Bill, London, 

 4th July, 1842. 



Let us hear old Isaac Walton's views on the subject of protection: 



" VENATOR Why, Sir, what be those that you call the Fence-months 1 



li PISCATOR Sir, they be principally three, namely, March, April, 

 and May*, for these be the usual months that salmon come out of the 

 sea to spawn in most fresh rivers, and their fry would about a certain 

 time return back to the salt water, if they were not hindered by weirs 

 and unlawful gins, which the greedy fishermen set, and so destroy 

 them by thousands, as they would, being so taught by nature, change 

 the fresh for salt water. He that shall view the wise statutes made in 

 the 13th of Edward I., and the like in Richard II., may see several 

 provisions made against the destruction of fish \ and though I profess 

 no knowledge of the law, yet I am sure the regulation of these defects 

 might be easily mended. But I remember that a wise friend of mine 

 did usually say, 'That which is everybody's business, is nobody's 

 business.' If it were otherwise, there could not be so many nets and 

 fish that are under the statute size, sold daily amongst us, and of which 

 the conservators of the waters should be ashamed. 



" But above all, the taking fish in spawning time, may be said to be 

 against nature; it is like the taking the dam on the nest when she 

 hatches her young : a sin so against nature, that Almighty God hath 

 in the Levitical law made a law against it." 



CHAPTER Y. 



POLICY OF LEGISLATION. THE ACT OF 1842. ITS MEANS FOR CONTROL 



AND IMPROVEMENT. 



THIS enactment forming the foundation on which future im- 

 provement of the Fisheries was to rise, it becomes a matter of 

 importance to test, by means of public documents, how far the 

 Legislature deemed it wise to sanction or to depart from the 

 intention of the original salutary movement. Moreover to 

 trace out from similar sources, such as the papers laid before 

 Parliament, and published by authority, how far that intention 

 has been fulfilled, or the contrary ; and also, how ftr the express 

 provisions of the statute itself have been acted upon, or de- 

 parted from. 



Such an endeavour, and such an analysis of the Act as will 



* The statute 13 Edward I. prohibited taking salmunculi by nets, or in other 

 ways, from the middle of April till the end of June. 



