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Extract from Report on the Acts relating to 
ductive form of labour presses inconveniently upon those 
who prosecute and have embarked their capital in the old 
and less productive form of labour. 
22. Although recent legislation has been in logical sequence of 
that which has long prevailed, and may, in the absence 
of new inquiries, have been requisite to prevent disturb- 
ance of the peace, still, as it proceeds on the assumption 
that it is justifiable for the conservation of the breed of 
herring, we are bound to state that, in this point of view, 
the repressive Acts of 1851, 1860, and 1861, were alto- 
gether unnecessary; that they are essentially Acts for 
protecting class interests, and interfere with the invention 
and application of new and more productive modes of in- 
dustry. 
23. We are of opinion, that if any legislation had been re- 
quisite, it should have only been in the same direction 
as that applied to the herring fishery generally, viz., to 
a regulation of the size of the mesh of the seines, which 
were frequently used under the legal standard. We 
express no opinion as to the necessity of restricting the 
size of the mesh generally, as this question is not referred 
to us under our Commission. 
24, If the seine fishing be again rendered legal, increased powers 
for regulating the police of the fisheries should be given 
to the Fishery Board. 
25. A discretionary power should be vested in that Board to 
prohibit seining from being prosecuted in waters which 
are too narrow for that and drift-net fishing being peace- 
ably carried on simultaneously. We are of opinion that 
Upper Loch Fyne, i.e., above Otter Spit, is too narrow 
for this purpose, and that the Kyles of Bute offer another 
instance in which it would be desirable to give the Fishery 
Board discretionary powers to prohibit the practice of 
seining, but merely as a question of police, 
26. Although we have been unable to satisfy ourselves that a 
close time is of any advantage for the protection of the 
herring, still, as it is universally approved of in the dis- — 
trict round the Firth of Clyde, we do not take upon our- 
selves to recommend, against the wish of those who are 
practically concerned in the fisheries, any alteration as 
regards this district. It is true that close time presses 
heavily on the long-line fishermen, who are unable to cb- 
tain herring for bait to catch white fish during the close 
time from the 1st January to the 31st May; but it would 
be possible in this locality to allow licensed boats to catch 
