228 THE SALMON. 



most towards the extermination of the means whereby 

 all of them alike have their living. 



That such a system can be devised, or rather is 

 lying ready, but unused — ^that a vast reformation can 

 be wrought in the whole business of salmon-fishing, 

 with large profit to all concerned — is, we submit, a 

 great fact, and easy of demonstration ; though, like 

 most great truths or discoveries, there is difficulty m. 

 getting it audience. We hold that the whole present 

 system of net-fishing for salmon proceeds on a false 

 plan, bequeathed from times of which the circumstances 

 were quite different, and that it performs expensively 

 and ill what might be performed cheaply and well. At 

 present, those who have a common though not an equal 

 interest compete against each other under artificial re- 

 strictions — or, so to speak, run a race against each other, 

 each runner heavily weighted, for a prize which belongs 

 to and ultimately goes to all of them in proportions as 

 ascertainable before as after the race. What we propose 

 is, that competition should cease, and that there should 

 come in its place amalgamation or co-operation. 



The present system is a scramble : each man having 

 a few yards of river bends his efforts to catch as many 

 fish as he can ; and the grand object of all the innumer- 

 able and complicated laws on the subject is to prevent 

 his efforts from being too effective. This is a system of 

 very natural growth ; but it has now grown to be a 

 great and unnecessary evil and an anachronism. The 

 proportionate value of every man's rights in any river 

 is now accurately ascertained : why should not all the 



