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Part III. — Eighth Annual Report 
1 country (Holland) a new impulse by the appointment of an inspector- 
* general of fisheries, M. Bottemanne.' Possessed of a wise foresight, 
and indefatigable energy, the large revenues of the Dutch Government 
from the oyster and mussel fisheries are largely due to his intelligent 
management Besides accompanying me in an examination of the banks 
in the steam-yacht of the Zealand Fishery Board, which is not unlike the 
* Garland,' though a little smaller, he furnished me with plans, conditions 
of lease, and information on his whole management of the fisheries. The 
beds are parcelled out in rectangular lots of limited size — 2 acres being 
the usual extent — and these are, on a fixed and advertised date, let by 
public auction for a limited number of years. The result of this system 
is an increasing revenue to the Dutch Treasury. 
In France matters are somewhat different. The Naval Department, 
or Ministry of Marine, are charged not only with Admiralty duties, but 
also with the management of the fisheries. Though a foreigner at first 
sight may not be able to trace a close connection between the two, 
when the fact is noted that the Government of France takes a paternal 
interest in the condition of its maritine population, and must find 
conscripts to man its fleet, and when it is known that the fisheries are 
cultivated with this object, it is seen that there is reason for one depart- 
ment being at the same time the conscriptive authority and the means of 
helping time-expired conscripts to earn their bread without having to 
migrate or emigrate. 
In parcelling out the oyster ground the French, like the Dutch, divide 
it off by means of stakes into lots of from half an acre upwards. These 
lots are either given to the conscripts who have served their time in the 
navy at a nominal rental, or they are let to ostreiculturists at 30 to 35 
francs per hectare in Arcachon, and at 80 francs per hectare in the 
Morbihan. The rental is therefore about 10s. per acre at Arcachon, and 
about 25s. per acre in the Morbihan. In Holland leases are generally 
given for a period of fifteen years, though there are cases where the let 
is for thirty years, with certain breaks in the lease. Some of the mussel 
banks are let for five years only. In France, on the other hand, the 
tenure, though nominally a yearly one, is in practice longer, as, if the 
beds are well cultivated and to the approval of the maritime authorities, 
there is no disturbance of tenure. 
When the Government in this way lets oyster beds and derives a 
revenue therefrom, it exercises a certain amount of protection, the lessees 
also guarding their own interests. In the case of the East Schelde, the 
controlling authority, the Zealand Fishery Board, possesses some five boats, 
which are used in the survey of the beds and in affording protection to 
the lessees, one of the boats at least being fitted with the electric light for 
night duties. In addition to this police patrol, the larger ostreiculturists 
have also boats and watchmen of their own. In France the gardes-de- 
pcche protect chiefly the Government oyster beds, which are reserved for 
the marine conscripts, but they and the servants of the ostreiculturists 
also watch the pares of the capitalist. At Arcachon the bay is dotted over 
with pontons, species of arks, being in fact boats with houses built on them, 
which serve as watch-houses for the fishermen — parquers — of the pro- 
prietors of the pare. 
The oyster which is cultivated in France and Holland is Ostrea edulis, 
the bivalve which existed once upon a time in such quantities in the 
lochs of the west of Scotland and in the Firth of Forth. But, besides 
this oyster, the French introduced the Portuguese oyster Ostrea angidata 
which is a much coarser species then the native French oyster, though 
perhaps a more prolific form. It maintains a vigorous development on 
