39 



gatherings and then series of years of a great falling off in 

 quantity, as may be noticed on looking over the preceding 

 statistics ; but since the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Committee 

 have interfered at some considerable cost to the ratepayers 

 the quantity gathered in the best years has never reached 

 within several hundred tons what the cocklers sometimes 

 obtained before that Committee's interference became so 

 active." 



In the first place there are one or two rather misleading 

 statements which may be dealt with before one proceeds to a 

 detailed consideration of the whole subject. 



The statement that the Lancashire Sea Fisheries Com- 

 mittee have interfered at some considerable cost to the rate- 

 payers is rather apt to create a false impression, and it may 

 therefore be as well to mention that under the Order made by 

 the Board of Trade under the provisions of the Sea Fisheries 

 Kegulation Act of 1888 for uniting the Lancashire and Western 

 Sea Fisheries Districts, Clause 21 (6), states that none of the 

 said Counties or County Boroughs (constituting the district) 

 shall be chargeable in any financial year with a sum greater 

 than the amount which can in that year be raised by a rate of 

 one-sixteenth of a penny in the pound on the rateable value of 

 the property within such County or County Borough. 



The above criticism also states that the average for 10 

 years, from 1882 to 1891, was 1,924 tons per annum ; and in 

 the 12 years, 1892 to 1903 inclusive, only 1,287 tons per 

 annum. Nothing is said of the climatic conditions which have 

 influenced the fisheries during the two periods. 



At an Inquiry held by Mr. John Fell at Flookburgh on 

 February 29th, 1896, the fishermen stated that in the winter 

 of 1894 and 1895 the bulk of the larger cockles had been killed 

 by the severe frost. A striking photograph of the state of the 

 cockle beds was published by the " Pall Mall Magazine " for 



