THE ROYAL DUBLIN SOCIETY 71 



Londonderry, for having similarly exported herrings 

 which were sold in the island of Jamaica. 



The work of the Society in the north-west of Ire- 

 land closely resembled that of the present day carried 

 out by the Congested Districts Board. In 1783, ^100 

 were advanced to Alexander Young, inspector of fisheries 

 in the Killybegs district, towards erecting perches and 

 affixing buoys in Ballyweel Harbour, and for building 

 quays at which to land the fish. It was suggested that 

 Lord Conyngham's bequest should be utilised for this 

 purpose. In the previous year, jioo had been be- 

 queathed by him to the Society, which it was deter- 

 mined should be appropriated to the extension of the 

 Killybegs. fishery. Under the direction of the Right 

 Hon. William Conyngham, a committee was appointed 

 to take into consideration the present state of the 

 Fisheries and Fishery Laws of Ireland. In 1784, 

 premiums were offered for the destruction of seals on 

 the north-west coast, at the rate of is. for each, when 

 a sum of ^39, 4*. was divided between Messrs. John 

 Barrett and co., James Scanlon and co., and Messrs. 

 Davit and O'Cannon, for 392 seals destroyed. In 

 1799, Dr. Lanigan, the Society's librarian, was em- 

 ployed in making such translations from the French 

 of works on Fisheries as might be directed by General 

 Vallancey and Dr. R. Kirwan. 



In May 1774, there is a note as to the existence of 

 an old by-law, which provided that anyone possessing 

 ^500 a year in landed property or ^10,000 personal 

 estate, should be precluded from receiving money 

 premiums : their claims were to be recognised by means 

 of medals. 



At this period, the Society was devoting much 

 attention to small and poor renters of land, and offer- 

 ing small prizes with a view to encouraging them in 



