( 91 ) 



themselves of their authority to practise extortion and op- 

 press the poor, and never really repress the destruction of 

 fish. That the police would find in such a law the means 

 of extortion in Oudh (p. cxxxi). That in the North- Western 

 Provinces, their caste is so good that they could not be 

 expected to interfere regarding fish, except to cause op- 

 pression (p. cli). In Mirzapur (p. clxiii), that to carry out 

 rules, the police or revenue establishments who might have 

 to see to it are so venal, that they would expect to obtain 

 fish without payment. In Azimgurh, that any establish- 

 ments " would be mere engines of oppression and extortion" 

 (p. clxv). One official (p. clxx) considers the State has now 

 enough to do " in carrying through public measures that are 

 not supported by the opinion of the country ;" therefore, regu- 

 lating the fisheries should be postponed : another (p. clxx), 

 that it is undesirable that the public mind should be disturb- 

 ed " by gratuitous interference on the part of an alien ad- 

 ministration, enforced by not very trustworthy agency." In 

 short, several of the officials of this province consider the 

 police, and subordinate natives under their supervi- 

 sion and control, are so very untrustworthy that regulations 

 would eventuate in unlimited extortion ! That it would be 

 unkind to the very poor to prohibit the capture of fry, and 

 enjoy the fish whilst obtainable without trouble ; thus, in 

 Madras, in the Coimbatore Collectorate (p. Ixxxvii), "the 

 Collectors, out of consideration for the poorer classes, have 

 refrained from letting out tanks and streams," doubtless com- 

 mendable in a philanthropic spirit, if to-day's requirements 

 irrespective of to-morrow's wants is the only question, but, 

 unfortunately, permitting unlimited license has ended in un- 

 limited waste. The fishermen in Madras (p. Ixxviii) are 

 said to be an impoverished class, so they will consider that 

 were renting re-imposed it would be a grievance : their 

 position in the social scale is not high in the Central Provinces, 

 so it is a question whether improving the fisheries will lead 

 to their condition being bettered or the reverse. 



XCII. Eighthly, that the fishermen ply their trade as 

 they always have done, consequently, 

 as fish still remain in the waters, no 



interference is desirable (p. cxxx). This, however, is an 

 assertion much similar to those answers which the Govern- 

 ment received in 1868, that the supply of fish was hardly 

 decreasing anywhere ; in fact, that in some places it was 

 augmenting, general replies, in fact, which, unfortunately, 



