FISHERMEN AND FISHERIES. 243 



(by sect. 11 of 11 Geo. III. c. 31, expressly left unrepealed 

 in 1868), fishermen, in addition to the use of unartificial 

 harbours below high-water mark, are permitted the free use 

 of waste ground for one hundred yards above, for the 

 purpose of drying their nets. 



In 1786 (by sect. 19 of 26 Geo. III. c. 81) the same 

 unimpeded right to exercise certain otherwise restricted 

 trades, as had previously been permitted to soldiers after 

 their discharge from honourable service, was extended to 

 fishermen of seven years' standing. Lest there should still 

 remain any trade restrictions of the particular class referred 

 to which might be an impediment to the following of a 

 fisherman's calling, this privilege was particularly left 

 undisturbed in 1868. 



An Act relating to the British Society, so far as it is 

 consistent with the altered circumstances of the case, 

 remains unaffected. The above company had been esta- 

 blished for the extension of fisheries, and for the purchase 

 of land on which to erect fishing-stations in Scotland. In 

 1799 (39 Geo. III. c. 100) Parliament granted it express 

 powers to devote a portion of its capital to the grant 

 of loans for the erection of houses by deserving fishermen, 

 and for building net and hemp factories. It was also 

 enabled, in the pursuit of an object, the importance of which 

 by the end of last century our Legislature had become fully 

 prepared to acknowledge, to award prizes for expertness in 

 fishing, in fish-curing, in net-making, and in the preparation 

 of fish-oils. The British Society thus became in some 

 respects the precursor of the International Fisheries Exhi- 

 bition of 1883. 



In 1808 certain British White Herring Fishery Com- 

 missioners were appointed (48 Geo. III. c. no). The 

 powers given this Board, with some additions and altera- 



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