SEA-FISHERIES LABORATORY. 157 
that it will come up in an amended form next session. 
Lord Harris’s Bill, although it certainly did much to meet 
the present want of control, was susceptible of improve- 
ment in several respects, and it may be useful that I should 
state briefly what the more important of the amendments 
should be, in my opinion :— 
1°. The duty of inspecting and the power of prohibiting 
removal of oysters from the layings should rest with the 
Sea-Fishery Committees rather than with the County and 
Borough Councils :—that is, these important functions 
should be given to an authority concerned neither with the 
trade aspects of the oyster industries nor with the medical 
aspects of the sanitation of the neighbourhood, but to one 
primarily concerned with the prosperity of the fisheries— 
which includes their cultivation under healthy conditions. 
The Sea-Fishery Committees are in a position to hold the 
balance fairly between trade interests and sewage schemes. 
It is true that at present some of the more important 
oyster layingsare not topographically within thejurisdiction 
of the local Sea-Fishery Committees ; but thatis a matter 
which should be capable of easy remedy by an extension 
of the powers of the Committees in so far as regards oysters 
and other shell-fish. 
2°, From the point of view of public health, the sale of 
oysters from any suspected laying should be stopped forth- 
with. Ten days’ notice, or twenty-one days’ notice in the 
case of an appeal, if the oysters are infected, allows of the 
possibility of an indefinite amount of damage to health. 
Several epidemics might be started before the sale of the 
oysters could be stopped. In this respect the provisions 
of the Bill do not meet the present difficulty. 
3°. It is necessary that oysters should be protected 
from insanitary environment, not merely in the layings 
