48 
the tune of my arrival about £700, which I think is about the best 
sum yet registered for these beds. Twenty-two baskets are sold as 
being equal to one ton, but one basket is assumed to be one cwt. 
The basket is heaped, and the charge is 1/- per basket to strangers, but 
St. Andrews’ fishermen have only to pay lOd. St. Andrews’ fisher 
girls are allowed to gather periwinkles without restriction. 
The fishermen of St. Andrews used to have a free use of these 
beds, but since the town assumed the right, the fishermen do not 
interfere. A prosecution was once made — for destruction of 
mussels and mussel spat. But here again the right is a simple 
one, the towu holding the beds for the community of St. Andrews, 
and the right is not interfered with, and the beds are not poached 
upon. There is not now such a demand for bait at St. Andrews. 
The bouchot system has been tried in several -ways at the Eden 
beds, but with no success. 
As the fishermen themselves in many places are crying out 
about the necessity for a close time for crab and lobster lishing, 
and as the months which seem desirable for this are months when 
white fishing may be best prosecuted, there is no doubt that the 
efficacy of the white fishing will be much enhanced by an adequate 
and cheap supply of bait. The necessity for it I have before 
written about, and there is now nothing further to be said than that 
the establishment of such beds is a matter of the greatest importance 
for the maintenance of our fisheries. 
Bait is at present supplied at a cheap rate from the mussel 
farm at Budle Bay, but the yield is limited, and fishermen are 
obliged to send often to a considerable distance for mussel bait, and 
pay a heavy carriage in consequence. Much of it, indeed, comes to 
Blyth and other ports from Germany. 
The experiment ought to be made, at least, to grow mussels on 
such places as may be selected with the concurrence of the owners ; 
for I should imagine that all the places in our district which might 
be available for mussel cultivation will be claimed by private 
owners. 
But Mr. Dent’s experiences on the Blyth, and the poaching which 
takes place in other places with reference to bait, shows us that it 
is essential for even the success of our proposed experimental beds, 
either to have the claims of the owners or their tenants defined and 
established, or to protect the beds and bait in general by a bye-law. 
Under the Sea Fisheries Regulation Acts, 1888 to 1894, the North- 
umberland Sea Fisheries Committee has the power to regulate, 
