182 TRANSACTIONS LIVERPOOL BIOLOGICAL SOCIETY. 



tion, may still further decline; and in view of the 

 increasing pollution of the estuary, it may become a 

 dangerous source of epidemic disease. 



As Mr. Johnstone has pointed out in his last report 

 to our Committee, this is all very regrettable, for there 

 is absolutely no doubt the fishery can be developed and 

 that risk of the communication of disease can be largely 

 if not entirely averted. All that is required for this 

 desirable consummation is the co-operation of the 

 fishermen with the Corporation, and the sympathetic and 

 intelligent regulation of the industry. There are, in my 

 opinion, no obstacles which will not yield to careful 

 study of the local conditions. Details of the construction 

 of cleansing ponds and storage of the mussels are not 

 likely to offer lasting difficulties. The mussels gathered 

 might be classed and the royalty charged in proportion 

 to their quality. When a man placed his shell-fish in 

 the cleansing ponds he might be given a receipt, on 

 production of which he would receive the same quantity 

 of cleansed mussels, of the same class, at the expiration 

 of a given time. The shell-fish would be sent to the 

 markets accompanied by a certificate, and public con- 

 fidence in their harmlessness would again be restored. 



In his Report to the Local Government Board the 

 late Dr. Bulstrode saw no alternative, if this mussel 

 industry were to continue, but to close the major portion 

 of the Conway, and only to allow fishing on the seaward 

 parts of the estuary " as a provisional measure." Either 

 these measures are likely to be adopted by some Public 

 Authority to be created by legislation, or the Conway 

 mussels will gradually be excluded from the markets 

 under the pressure of the Medical Officers of Health in the 

 towns to which the mussels are consigned. 



As an example of the situation likely to arise in 



