•^# 





128 Angling Travels in Norway. 



he saw nothing reprehensible in the practice of speculation 

 in fisheries, or surely he would not have encouraged it, 

 even to the extent of a single year's rent ; but, at the 

 termination of his tenancy, he suddenly discovers that 

 the renting of angling water for gain is a practice to 

 be severely condemned. 



That there are plenty of British subjects at the present 

 moment, as regards fisheries, in precisely the same situation 

 as the Norwegian " middleman " is a fact that appears 

 to be conveniently ignored, nor are the terms "agent" 

 and " middleman " applied to them. 



It is of little consequence whether the renting of 

 fisheries for the purpose of making a profit in some form 

 or another be approved or decried, for wherever there 

 be a subject for speculation, there will always be some 

 ready to enter the lists. Some profess to distinguish a 

 vast diff"erence between speculation in a fishery and in 

 other sporting, or non-sporting, properties, but I confess 

 that the distinction is too subtle for my understanding, 

 and I sec no reason why angling water should be placed 

 upon a sacred pedestal. 



In the majority of cases the angling tenant, be he 

 a British or Norwegian subject, in the first instance rents 

 a river with the purpose of fishing it himself during at 

 least some portion of the season ; then the question arises, 

 what shall he do with it for the remainder ? 



