106 THE ANGLING CLUBS AND PRESERVATION 



success. But suppose it passes and becomes law, as I 

 earnestly hope it may do, it will still be an abortive and 

 useless measure, unless the " Angling Clubs of London " 

 and here I strike the key-note of my book help it by their 

 united support and assistance. It is useless for Tom to 

 wait while Jack or Harry strikes, in the event of any 

 outrage upon propriety. Tom, being the spectator of an 

 abuse of the existing law, should strike at once, and then 

 perhaps others will follow his example, so that in the event 

 of any breach of law in the future, the result, affecting, 

 recollect, the angler's dearest and nearest interests in con- 

 nection with his sport, rests with the angler himself. As 

 there are twenty " clubmen " fishing the Thames to one 

 unassociated with any such body, this warning, and it is a 

 very grave one, is addressed particularly to them. 



Practically, I think, or at any rate to any great extent, 

 poaching on the fisheries of the Thames is very nearly 

 extinct. Now and again there is a raid made, it is true, by 

 some of those determined spirits always to be found in 

 villages and large towns, and who would, every man-Jack 

 of them, infinitely prefer one poached hare or pheasant, 

 obtained at the price of a little adventure and devilry, to a 

 brace got by fair means ; but I hardly fancy that the extent 

 of the mischief done is very great. The reason lies in the 

 fact that a very large proportion of the river is now pro- 

 tected either by the keepers and officers of the Thames 

 Angling Preservation Society or by the officials of some 

 one or other of the local associations, all of whom are in 

 reality offshoots from the parent-tree just named. There 

 can jpe little doubt that the growth of the angling clubs of 

 London has been largely fostered by the efforts made by 

 the " Thames Angling Preservation Society " in the con- 

 servation and preservation of its fisheries. In tracing, 



