OF THE STATE OF CONNECTICUT. Ff 
sums appropriated by the last Legislature being entirely insuff- 
cient. This unwise action was brought about at the last moment 
of the session, mainly through the machinations of persons who 
seemed to be actuated by a desire to gratify a selfish spirit rather 
than by a wish to promote the interests of the oyster cultivators. 
It may not be generally known that an organized attack was 
made against the Commission at the last session of the Legisla- 
ture, with the desire of ousting the present Commissioners and 
vesting the power in one man. Notwithstanding the desperate 
efforts of paid counsel and unscrupulous lobbyists, the plot signally 
failed. The schemers, managed, however, under various pretexts 
and misrepresentations, to keep back the shell-fish appropriation 
bill until the last day of the session, when the vote, in the hurry 
and confusion of the last hours, was hurried through without 
proper consideration, and so the Commission was crippled when 
it could not be crushed. 
The Commissioners deem it but justice, not only to themselves 
but to the State, that the statement of facts made by them in 
defence of the Commission should in its more important details 
be embodied in this report. It is due to the people throughout 
the State, to whom the report will come, that they should rightly 
understand the truth of the matter; while it will be useful to 
those members of the Assembly who may be hereafter required 
to consider and act upon the doings of the Commission and the 
laws affecting the oyster industries of the State. The statement 
above referred to is substantially as follows,—the paragraphs 
which are marked with quotation points being extracts which 
comprehend the petitioners’ reasons for asking that the Com- 
mission be abolished :— 
STATEMENT:—In the matter of a proposed change in the organ- 
ization of the Shell Fishery Commission, the present Commis- 
sioners deem it their duty to place before you the facts essential 
to a safe and proper determination of the questions involved, 
so that no detriment shall come to the State or to its valuable 
oyster industry. 
_ Previous to the year 1881, there had been serious disputes be- 
tween the two great classes of oystermen in the State—those who 
worked on the natural beds, and those who cultivated private 
grounds. After along and exhaustive legislative investigation, 
the law of 1881 was passed as the one most acceptable to all parties 
interested. The burden of carrying this law into effect was 
imposed upon the Fish Commissioners. 
