THE NEW ART OF BREEDING fiSH. 185 



be a libel upon the common sense and the primitive 

 instincts of man, which never fail to appreciate, 

 though they often fail to analyze, a glaring and pal- 

 pable injustice. 



• You may ask me how I propose to accomplish 

 this object. In the first place, I would put an end 

 to all conflicting rights on a salmon river by making 

 the proprietors a corporate body, and placing the 

 whole under one management. Take, as an exam- 

 ple, the river Eibble. I would constitute the pro- 

 prietors a company, under the name of " The Kibble 

 Fisheries Company." Every proprietor should be a 

 member of this body, and entitled to a voice in its 

 management, as in a railway or other company con- 

 stituted by an act of Parliament. By this means 

 we should get rid of many jealousies, where there 

 are conflicting rights, and we should have salmon 

 at the lowest cost, because there would only be 

 one set of nets, one set of men, and one board of 

 fnanagement. I would prohibit, under heavy penalties, 

 the use of a net in any part of the river, by any but 

 the constituted authorities, unless on a written appli- 

 cation for some experimental purpose, to be submitted 

 to the board, and conducted under the superintend- 

 ence of a conservator of the river. By this plan 

 every landowner on the banks of the river, or of any 

 tributary stream to which salmon resort for breeding, 

 would become a shareholder in the company, and en- 

 titled to participate in the profits. The only practi- 

 cal difficulty would be to determine the proportions in 



