178 THE RELATIONS OF THE STATE WITH 



thereby, and the prices of fish greatly inhanced . . . And 

 for that it is very unequal that the native subjects of this 

 land should not be at liberty to bring in also foreign pro- 

 vision of fish for the victualling of this our country as well 

 as to carry out, but that the stranger should be wholly 

 trusted therewith " the previous statute is repealed, 

 "every clause, branch, and proviso thereof ... to all 

 intents, constructions, and purposes, as if the same had 

 never been had ne (sic) made." 



Nevertheless, just a hundred years afterwards almost 

 exactly the same experience had to be bought at the same 

 cost. The Act 10 & 1 1 Wm. III. c. 24 prohibited the impor- 

 tation of fish in " foreign bottoms ; " but in the first year 

 of King George I.'s reign (c. 18) the importation of foreign 

 lobsters and turbots was permitted, because the previous 

 prohibition had made these fish " much dearer than before." 

 Still the demand for foreign fish caused the law to be dis- 

 obeyed, and by 9 Geo. II. c. 33 the penalty was increased 

 to ;ioo ; yet the contraband trade continued, and as even 

 that heavy penalty was " insufficient to restrain ill-disposed 

 persons from buying and receiving fresh fish other than 

 turbets (sic) and lobsters from foreigners ; " a fresh Act 

 (26 Geo. III. c. 81) still further increased it, and gave 

 additional powers for enforcing it. The law, however, 

 became practically inoperative long before its repeal in 

 1868. 



In the meantime the system of actively encouraging the 

 prosecution of the fisheries by the granting of bounties had 

 Bounties on come into force. The first fishery to receive the benefit of 

 this form of encouragement was the pilchard fishery, a 

 bounty of *]s. per barrel, which was afterwards increased, 

 being paid on all fish exported. Cod, ling, hake, and 

 herrings were afterwards eventually included in the bounty 



