NORWEGIAN FISHING 163 



ing to invest the inspectors with a badge of 

 office. 



Bad as things are now, there is worse to 

 come. The net-owners are agitating for further 

 advantages, and it is believed that they will 

 obtain either an abbreviated close-time, or a 

 reduction in the legal size of the mesh. The 

 latter would be fatal to a large proportion of 

 the grilse which now reach the rivers, and, as 

 I have already pointed out, would be a foolish 

 and disastrous change. 



No wonder there are not wanting pessimists 

 to declare that the days of Norwegian fishing 

 are numbered, and that a grant to the net- 

 owners of either of the above-mentioned con- 

 cessions will be the final blow. In bad seasons 

 this gloomy forecast holds the field ; in good, it 

 is forgotten. And as long as there are any 

 salmon left to fish for, the charm of Norway 

 will draw anglers. Our fish, fresh from the 

 bracing Arctic Seas, are the gamest and most 

 vigorous of their kind. We enjoy the delights 

 of spring-fishing, without suffering the rigours 

 of a British spring. We pursue our sport in 

 the height of summer, beneath the clear sky 



