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him to go further into it, except just to describe the mode 

 of trawling since he knew it. He did not see any difference 

 in the shape of the trawl now from what it was 50 years 

 since, and the only difference was that it was extended in 

 size. He should be quite willing to go with the Chairman 

 in the line of having the mesh larger, and thought it would 

 be a great benefit to the trade at large. As for destroying 

 immature fish, he thought if there were not some means 

 taken to prevent destroying them in the bays and estuaries, 

 in the course of a very few years the sole would be a thing 

 of the past. He did not say they*were going to exhaust the 

 sea, because he thought there were as many soles caught 

 now as there were 50 years since, but they were about one- 

 fiftieth part of the weight. If you went to Yarmouth beach 

 you could see the men picking out small immature fish 

 soles half as long as his finger he was sorry to say he had 

 done it himself and turbot so to speak not larger than your 

 thumb-nail. It was no use throwing them overboard, be- 

 cause after they once got into the net they were dead. This 

 summer he had known that the smacks on the Jutland Coast 

 had been taking shovels, and shovelling overboard by the 

 ton small immature plaice, not larger than the thumb-nail 

 and many not larger than the palm of one's hand. He 

 believed that scientific men had done wonders in regard to 

 the salmon fishery ; they put a hedge round it, and put a 

 guard upon it, and if it had not been so what would have 

 been the consequence by this time ? Unless there had been 

 a close time for the salmon fishery, and all inland fisheries, 

 he believed they would have been exhausted before now, or 

 very nearly so. But when the inquiry was held there were 

 men of science examined and fishermen ; but fishermen were 

 only anglers fresh-water fishermen they never called in 

 the aid of any deep-sea fishermen at all. Their opinion 



