31 



for no one good purpose, and with which they 

 know not what to do after they are caught, and 

 after such unfair and illegal practices endea- 

 vour to prevent in others the fair and legal use 

 of the net. 



If the public rivers are to have a poacher, 

 it must be obvious they had much better have 

 a poor than a rich one ; as the poor poacher's 

 means of destruction are much more limited 

 than the rich one, and whatever the poor one 

 obtains may be of some service to his family, 

 and by sale is distributed amongst the public ; 

 while, on the contrary, what the rich one gets 

 is neither necessary for himself, nor beneficial 

 in the slightest degree to the public, but ex- 

 tremely detrimental to the fair sportsman. 



But, now to apply these general observations 

 on angling to the general right of taking fish 

 by lawful nets, and other accustomed modes 

 of fishing. 



First, then, in all these observations there 

 does not appear a single restriction or excep- 

 tion to the other general modes of taking fish ; 

 while the Statute of Hen, VI. recognizes the 

 right of using nets, " as the right, title and 



