464 INTERNATIONAL LAWS FOR THE 



the Irish fisheries were introduced into Parliament, and as 

 quickly withdrawn. This all points to the desirability of 

 legislation to promote the fisheries, but shows a lack of 

 something which should enable it to be suitably framed. 

 It is high time that the Government should recognise these 

 facts, and form a Fisheries Board embracing the whole of 

 the United Kingdom, which could meet and discuss the 

 desirability of fresh legislation, instead of having three 

 Boards at work, each framing legislation to suit its own 

 wants, totally ignorant as to what effect it may have on 

 other portions of the fisheries, or those prosecuting them. 

 The migration of boats nowadays hundreds of miles from 

 their own ports to others renders it necessary that all should 

 be consulted, even before local legislation is framed. The 

 counsels of one or two theoretical gentlemen should -no 

 longer be allowed to prevail at headquarters, but a depart- 

 ment or Board should be formed, composed of both 

 theoretical and practical men, with vessels at their disposal 

 for scientific and experimental purposes. It is all very well 

 for the Board of Trade, as the present system is, to hold 

 inquiries, when it wants information, from fishermen, but 

 these cannot afford to lose time, or make experimental 

 trips and hauls for the benefit of the community at large. 

 This should be the work of the Government, and is one 

 which has been undertaken by other Governments long 

 ago, with the result that we are behindhand in our know- 

 ledge of fish and fisheries. 



Packages. Of necessity in this trade packages are much more 



exposed to loss than in any other. They are sent 

 hurriedly from market to market, and are removed by 

 unscrupulous persons for all sorts of purposes, not theo- 

 retically illegal, but practically so. The loss in these amounts 

 to many thousands of pounds in a year, and is an indirect 



