80 ON 1 THE CHANNEL-FISHERIES. 



other fish to pass and repass, as such magistrates 

 shall think proper, and in default of such amend- 

 ment or removal, agreeable to such notice, that 

 such magistrates will, and they are hereby autho- 

 rized to amend, alter, and remove or abate, or order 

 to be removed, altered, or abated, the same, with- 

 out being answerable for any damages or conse- 

 quences that may follow such amendment, alter- 

 ation, removal, or abatement ; and if such magis- 

 trates have any doubt as to the person or persons 

 who may be the proprietors of such weirs or ob- 

 structions, that it shall be lawful for such magis- 

 trates to affix such written notice on any public 

 place in the market town near such weir or ob- 

 struction, which shall be deemed and taken as 

 effectual as if such notice had been delivered to 

 such proprietor or proprietors. 



And whereas, as it is truly expressed in the 

 statute of. the first of Elizabeth, " That in divers 

 " places they feed swine and dogs with the fry and 

 " spawn offish, and otherwise, lamentable and hor- 

 " rible to be related, destroy the same, to the great 

 " hindrance and decay of the commonwealth;" so 



" rivers with nets and other devices, whereby not only the 

 increase of the species of the said fish, but also die growth 

 " thereof is in a great measure destroyed." This is exactly 

 the fact throughout the kingdom, and I can see no reason why 

 the other counties, particularly Devon, where there are such 

 excellent and numerous rivers for the increase of the salmon 

 fisheries, should not have the same benefits as are given to 

 Southampton and Wilts by the statute of Anne. 



