220 YEAR-BOOK OF FACTS. 



as a present to the Queen's table. We are sure, if Her Majesty 

 were aware of these facts that her good sense, as well as her venera- 

 tion for law, would have led her to strongly discourage such a dis- 

 graceful and destructive act of poaching. — From the Field, 



SALMOX FISHERIES OF DEVON AND YORK. 



It has lately been stated at Exeter, in evidence before the Salmon 

 Fisheries Commission, that, a century ago, a Salmon, weighing 

 30 lbs., had been purchased in the Exeter market for thirty pence ; 

 that one fishery was let by the Corporation for 50Z. a-year in 1601, 

 which was now valueless, and that a clause was inserted in appren- 

 tices' indentures to the effect that they should not be required to eat 

 salmon more than three times a week. The present condition of the 

 fisheries is, however, totally different. Very few salmon have been 

 caught in the Exe during the last few years, and scarcely any is 

 ever exposed for sale in the market. The causes of this decay are 

 the use of illegal nets at the estuary of the river, by which large 

 quantities of young fish are destroyed ; the construction of weirs, 

 which prevent the fish from going up to spawn — notwithstanding 

 that there are forty miles of the finest spawning beds ever seen — in 

 the upper part of the river ; and to the fact that mills and gasworks 

 on the river let out deleterious matter into the water, which poisoned 

 the fish. The remedies suggested are, that the Coastguardsmen of 

 Exeter should have the power to go on board fishing-vessels and 

 inspect the nets at the estuary of the Exe, and that the county 

 policemen have a similar power with regard to the upper part of the 

 river ; that the police should also have power to enter the mills at 

 any time where illegal fishing was suspected ; that the letting out of 

 poisonous matter into the river should be made a penal offence ; and 

 that tne fishing-season, instead of lasting from February to Sep- 

 tember, should commence on the 1st of May, and terminate on the 

 12th of September. With regard to the Axe and the Otter — the 

 former of winch was once a splendid salmon stream — similar reasons 

 for the almost total annihilation offish which had taken place during 

 the last few years in these rivers were given by Mr. Tubman* and 

 the Rev. J. Gattey. 



The Commission have also met at York, for the purpose of re- 

 ceiving evidence as to the state of the salmon fisheries in the York- 

 shire rivers. Sir W. Jardine stated that the Commissioners bad 

 1" en out in Wales and tin- greater part of England for tin' last 

 nine weeks. The result of their inquiries so far had led them to the 

 opinion that the diminution of salmon arose from their being looked 

 from the livers by the numerous weirs or locks which had been 

 ad, and which kept them from ascending to their spawning 



grounds in the tributaries which nm into the larger streams. He 



then stated that the fisheries in Ireland, which had been in as ad- 

 ed a state of decay as in this country, were now being made a 



* Mr. Pulman. we should think, is ii ; to speak upon this sub- 



i-l bii opinion is valuable, si ever)- one who has read ins admirable 



volume upon (lie Axe liar I » 

 I 



