210 THE SEA FISHERIES 



native was to close the bed altogether. The Central Authority, 

 in this case the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries, thought other- 

 wise, and in its efforts to assuage the crudities of local administration, 

 replied in the following terms to the Committee : — 



" The Board are advised that the powers of a local fisheries com- 

 mittee under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts do not extend to 

 the making of by-laws for the closure of a mussel bed or other 

 fishery for shellfish for the purpose of protection of pubUc health. 

 The Board, therefore, regret that they are unable to confirm the 

 by-law submitted." 



It should be noted that no other authority had the power to close 

 a polluted shellfish bed. 



UndeteiTed by this sapient reply to their efforts, the Lancashire 

 and Western Committee has, at the annual statutory meeting of 

 Sea Fisheries Authorities, on no fewer than eight occasions drawn 

 the attention of the Central Authority to this evil. To detail the 

 arguments set forth at these Conferences would be wearisome, it 

 must suffice to draw attention to the transactions at two recent 

 meetings. In 1910 the following resolution was proposed and 

 seconded by Lancashire representatives, and carried unanimously : 

 " That this Conference urges the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries 

 to make strong representations to the Local Government Board to 

 promote legislation with a view to giving the local fisheries com- 

 mittees of England and Wales, or some other authority having 

 jurisdiction over an extensive area of sea coast, power to close 

 shellfish beds that are proved to be contaminated with sewage to 

 such an extfent as to be likely to cause the illness or death of the 

 person or persons consuming them." 



In 1911 the Conference was informed by the Marquis of Lincohi- 

 shire (then Lord Carrington and President of the Board), that " the 

 attention of the Local Government Board was called in due course 

 to the discussion on the subject of the pollution of shellfish beds (at 

 the Conference of 1910), and on 6th June last (i.e. 1911) the President 

 of the Local Government Board intimated in the House of Commons 

 that his department is almost in a position to draft legislation on 

 the subject. Meanwhile the seriousness of the question cannot be 

 disguised or diminished. To give an example, the Lancashire and 

 Western Committee knew that if mussels were gathered from a 

 certain bed in their district for use as food an outbreak of fever was 

 inevitable. The mussels were gathered (there being no authority 

 to prevent it), and the epidemic of typhoid followed. 



In February, 1915, the Local Government Board, actmg in the 

 provisions of the Public Health (Regulations as to Food) Act, 1907, 

 drafted regulations prohibiting the sale of shellfish likely to cause 



