45 



other exposed to the unscrupulous ; the ' silent highway/ 

 open to all, the obscurity of night the excitement of pursuit 

 the impossibility of its identification are all circumstances in 

 favour of the violator of the law. The varied interests along 

 the course of a great river all antagonistic ; as in the fable 

 of ' the wolf and the lamb' the devourers below inveighing 

 against those above, and they again perhaps as unjustly jealous 

 of interception ; the obstacles that human nature presents 

 to the repression of encroachments and trespasses whether 

 on the part of men of power or again of the public on private 

 privileges hard to define, and easy to infringe, must tend to 

 weave a complication of difficulties requiring more than ordinary 

 consideration in legislating on them, and more than ordinary 

 powers to be given for their control. 



With evident appreciation of these manifold difficulties the 

 new Statute was framed to meet them in a great degree. It 

 contains many materials for bringing the Irish fisheries to 

 their highest value, having been so judiciously arranged that 

 ultimate modifications, and accessional legislation, might be 

 adopted or recommended by the constituted authorities after 

 inquiry and experience. Excepting in the introduction of the 

 clauses establishing the legality of fixed apparatus, (the policy of 

 which was inequitable in rivers where public rights exist in the 

 tideways,) many unobjectionable portions of the old code of 

 laws, and some of the recommendations of the Commission of 

 Inquiry were re-enacted or adopted ; and, if vigorously admi- 

 nistered, the full code of provisions would have been found as 

 completely applicable as could at first have been devised for a 

 perplexed and abstruse subject. 



The omission for a long lapse of time of legislative measures 

 and proper control was thus removed by this enactment, 

 followed rapidly by others of an accessory nature ; that of 1 844 

 brought in the powerful aid of the Constabulary, (in addition to 

 the powers previously conferred on the proprietors of fisheries 

 to appoint water-bailiffs, and on the officers and men of her 

 Majesty's cruisers, and of the coast guard service,) to enforce 

 the provisions of the law ; the full force of the State was, with 

 the exception of the military, now enlisted for the protection 

 of our national fisheries. When the nature of the property, 

 that of the interests concerned, and the fact that they are 

 most exposed to injury in the remoter and less civilized dis- 

 tricts of the land, and around the sea-coasts, is considered, it 

 cannot be said that such ample means for enforcing authority 

 were not required. 



