FRANCE 131 



with all parts of France and with the entire shooting world. The 

 Director of the Society's Journal would promptly answer all inquiries 

 addressed to him on the subject. 



FISHING 



Fishing, in one form or another, is as popular among Frenchmen 

 as hunting and shooting. By all classes of the community fishing is 

 practised, although our fish, like our game, is diminishing day by day, 

 thanks to the spread of poaching and to the want of accord among 

 the three ministers responsible for the waters, the Ministers of Marine, 

 Agriculture, and Public Works. 



For years the angling associations have begged for the revision of 



the law of 1829, which still regulates fishing in France. Since that 



remote period the control and exploitation of the 



Inadequate 

 fisheries have been regulated by ordinances, decrees Lgg-islation 



that followed the law of 1829. And to-day the same 

 law, which is become confused and is inapplicable in many cases, still 

 governs the ri^ht of fish i no- ! It should be remarked that the law was 

 framed at a time when railways were unknown, and when the lack of 

 means of carrying fish to the different towns restricted it to local 

 consumption only. Since then, in proportion as the means of trans- 

 port developed and the routes of communication extended to the 

 furthest districts, fresh Acts, often confused in terms, were passed to 

 avert the destruction of the fisheries. 



An examination of the legal changes that have succeeded each 

 other amoncr our neiohbours will show us Enoland in the first rank, 



