56 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



almost depleted by our friendly neighbour's steam- 

 trawlers. 



More than one reference has been made to the 

 British Sea Anglers' Society ; and, as not many 

 of the original members continue to take active 

 part in its administration, which is nevertheless 

 in the hands of an energetic committee that it 

 would be hard to equal and perhaps impossible 

 to beat, it may perhaps be of interest if I set down, 

 as I have not seen it given elsewhere, a brief ac- 

 count of the circumstances that led to its inception 

 twelve years ago. Of these I may be supposed 

 to have some knowledge, for, little use as I have 

 been to it during these last few busy years, it is 

 a matter of great pride to me to remember that 

 this prosperous society, numbering over a thousand 

 members, had its origin in a short article which 

 I wrote on the subject of such a society in the early 

 days of 1892. The article was offered to the ang- 

 ling editor (now the editor) of the Field and by 

 him rejected for want of space. Sea-angling, it 

 must be remembered, was not treated at that 

 time with the indulgence accorded to it by editors 

 to-day, and Mr. Senior had to be careful not to give 

 undue prominence to a comparatively unknown 

 sport. Later that year a little paper called 

 Pleasure, since extinct, projected a series of articles 

 on Pleasure Clubs, and, as a natural sequence, 

 " Why not a Sea-Fishing Club ? '' appeared with 



