SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 11 7 



draw up a Memorandum as to the relations of the Inter- 

 national scheme to the most pressing fishery problems and 

 the methods to be adopted in the solution of such 

 problems. This Memorandum was adopted by the 

 Committee and is printed on p. xxii. of the Report (Blue 

 book Cd. 1312). 



If the argument in this Memorandum of the 

 Ichthyological Committee is correct, grave doubt is 

 cast upon the validity of any results which might be 

 obtained solely by methods proposed in the " Christian ia 

 Programme " — the revised or second official programme 

 of the International work. It is evident from an 

 examination of the official publications of the Inter- 

 national Council that some such doubts must at a later 

 date have occurred to those engaged in the work. For 

 example, in August, 1902, at the first meeting held after 

 the memorandum above referred to had been presented, 

 the Council resolved that it was not possible to undertake 

 the biological portion of the " Christiania Programme " 

 in its totality, and decided to restrict the investigation to 

 certain problems [Cd. 1313, p. 102]. Again, in 1904, it 

 was recognised that the methods hitherto adopted were 

 inadequate for the solution of these problems, and the 

 instructions to the British delegates [Cd. 2966, p. 32] 

 caused still further alteration in the International 

 programme. 'Then, in 1905, the quarterly " seasonal 

 cruises " (in February, May, August and November), 

 which were a very fundamental point in the original 

 scheme, and which had been criticised in the Report of 

 the Ichthyological Committee, were apparently recognised 

 as being inadequate and were supplemented by more 

 frequent observations [Cd. 2966, pp. 54, 172, 174, 175 

 App. B, also Cd. 3165, p. 14]. 



Thus the progress of events during the last four 



