THE SELECT COMMITTEE OF 1893 71 



Royal Commission of 1863, as we have seen, 

 marked the change from the policy of legislative 

 restriction, which was that of the earlier adminis- 

 tration, to that which gave almost perfect freedom 

 from restriction of any kind ; and however much 

 this policy may have changed in our own time, 

 there can be no doubt that it was justified in 

 1866, and that the absence of restrictive regula- 

 tions materially assisted the enormous develop- 

 ment of British fishery which took place during 

 the next few decades. The report of this Com- 

 mission also initiated the policy of international 

 regulation in matters of police which resulted in 

 the Fisheries Acts of 1868, 1883, 1888, 1891, 

 and 1893. The Commissioners held optimistic 

 views as to the resources of the fishing grounds, 

 which were perhaps justified by the state of 

 development of the fisheries in their time. As 

 time went on, and the fishing fleets increased 

 in number, and more especially when steam 

 trawling became extensively practised, it was 

 seen that these views were no longer tenable, 

 and that the marine fisheries could not be con- 

 ducted as if they were inexhaustible. The 

 pendulum then swung back to the policy of 

 legislative restriction, and we have followed in a 

 summary manner this development. But, unlike 

 the legislation that preceded the inquiry of 1863, 

 this has been founded on a real attempt to 

 understand the causes likely to affect the pros- 



