( 97 ) 



February arc suitable (pp. Ixxix, Ixxiv) for then the 

 floods have subsided, and the bulk of the fish are 

 caught on their return to the sea : this period, however, is 

 considered as too long by the Madras Revenue Board. 

 Again, it has been suggested that in localities where the 

 water becomes very low in the rivers during the dry season, 

 certain pools should be protected, as the whole of the fish 

 can be swept out of them with the greatest ease. This is 

 especially recommended in hilly districts in the dry (not 

 cold) months of the year in the Himalayas (pp. vii, xiv, xvi) : 

 also in Trichinopoly and Tinnivelli, in pools of rivers below 

 irrigation weirs whenever a good stream does not exist 

 (pp. Ixxx, Ixxxv) : and in South Canara (p. xci). The 

 measures stated to be necessary in the Kangra District of 

 the Himalayas are, amongst others, " partially a system of 

 Government preserves, such as was always in force in the 

 time of the Rajas" (p. xvi). In some places, as the 

 Himalayas, it has been proposed that the young of 

 certain fish should be locally protected : also in Bombay 

 (p. lii) and in Madras (pp. Ixxii, xcii), but, as has been ob- 

 served, who is to decide what are the young ? 



XCVIII. Omitting weirs, fixed engines and bunding 



on the necessity of reguiat- which have been separately dealt with, 

 ing the minimum size of the the next most prominent question is 



the necessity of regulating the mini- 



mum size of the mesh of the nets, on which subject very con- 

 tradictory opinions have been advanced. Commencing with 

 the Panjab, in parts of which such have been trjed, twenty- 

 one answers from European officials have been received : 

 seventeen (pp. x, xi, xii, xiii, xiv, xvii) consider that no 



'objections exist, although one believes such to be unnecessary 

 (p. x), and another (p. xvii) that it is unadvisable. Out of 

 the four that object, one does so on account of a contiguous 

 and evidently unruly border population (p. ix) : a second, 

 due to the want of a legal enactment, coupled with a direct 

 loss of revenue which might accrue (p. xi) : a third, that 

 supervision would be impossible in the hills (p. xiv) : and 

 a fourth, that if the people might not eat the fry, what were 



they to obtain at that season ? (p. xiv). In the Central Pro- 

 vinces it is observed that regulations must be legalised in 

 order to be carried out (p. 1.) 



XCIX. Of those who have proposed that a minimum 



Minimum mesh of net pro- size should be fixed by law, or 



P sed - that if such were so decided upon, 



