80 FISHING GOSSIP. 
worthless. This is one of the most troublesome ele- 
ments in the discussions which arise in Parliament 
or elsewhere, when the close and open season for 
salmon-fishing is the question to be settled. 
It was long since determined by the Parliaments of 
England, Scotland, and Ireland, that salmon should 
not be taken during a certain portion of the year. 
The first Salmon-Fishery Act on the English statute- 
book is the 13th Edward I. No. 1, cap. 47. It 
prohibits the taking of salmon “from the nativity of 
our Lady” (8th of September) “until St. Martin’s 
day” (11th of November). Many Acts were subse- 
quently passed. Power was given to magistrates at 
quarter-sessions to fix close seasons for different 
rivers, and the final result was as pretty a kettle of 
fish as could well be desired. For the Commissioners 
of 1860 found that there was not one day in the year 
on which, in some river or other throughout England, 
fishing was not open! In Ireland, under former 
legislation, interested persons induced Parliament to 
open the river Lee at Cork all the year round, because 
a good salmon, it was alleged, might be found in it 
any day in the year. In Scotland the outrages 
allowed to be perpetrated against the unfortunate 
Salmonide were not quite so bad ; however, at one 
time, and indeed up to a recent period, the fisheries 
opened on the 14th of December—and that was bad 
enough. : 
