134 
THE FISHING GAZETTE 
[Febrtjahy 25, 1893 
312EaltontaTxa 
“ My purpose is to bestow a day or two in helping' to 
destroy some of those villanous vermin : for I hate them 
perfectly, because they love fish so well.”— Izaak 
Walton. 
At the back of New Mills, Henley-on-Thames, 
is a little stream in which a large number of 
trout were placed last year by the Henley Asso¬ 
ciation. In a week’s time another consignment 
of fine yearling fario trout will reach Henley, 
and about half of these fish are destined for the 
same brook, l)ut a dread rumour reaches me that 
the brook is infested with an otter who has been 
known to have one or possibly more trout for his 
breakfast. Now, however much it may be de¬ 
sired not to exterminate the otter in the Thames 
valley, the presence of those animals so cordially 
detested by worthy Izaak Walton is not to be 
tolerated in a trout stew, and I hope to hear soon 
that the creature has met his fate. 
If I had fifteen columns to fill they would brim 
over with news this week, for the Thames Bye¬ 
laws are at last out in their revised form, and 
the riparian members of the board, who are in 
great dread of the County Council of London, are 
starting a movement in the up-river towns which 
I believe will have for one of its objects the 
rousing of an up-river opposition to the London 
County Council being represented on the board. 
Various meetings have been held, the most im- 
])orlant one taking place at Reading, the mayor, 
Mr. Martin, taking the chair. In opening the 
meeting Mr. Martin said that they were there 
to form a Conservancy Electors’ Association, but 
it would be the duty of the association to look 
after public as well as riparian interests, and 
to see that they w^ere not overpowered by the 
London members of the board. Sir Gilbert 
East, a conservator for the upper river, who is 
also riparian owner, then made a long speech, in 
the course of which he intimated that it was 
the riparian owners who looked after the interests 
of the public on the upper river, while the London 
members were apt to vote for unnecessary ex¬ 
penditure ! He rather gave the meeting to 
understand that London bad too much its own 
■way on the board, his argument being that there¬ 
fore it was very undesirable that the County 
(Council should be represented, as will be proposed 
in a Bill which is to be brought in. The nominal 
objects of the association, Avhich was then and 
there formed, is to place on the register of voters 
all those persons -who are entitled to votes for 
the up-river conservators. At present, there are, 
I believe, only between seven and eight hundred 
voters on the list, and there are some thousands 
of persons who might have votes if they liked. 
The qualification is residence within five miles of 
the river, and freehold property to the value of 
iioO per annum anywhere in Great Britain, or 
residence anywhere, and freehold property to 
that value situated within five miles of the river. 
Numixallv, as I have said, the objects of the 
association are to register voters and to look after 
up-river interests, but Sir Gilbert East made it 
clear that he hopes and expects that the voters 
which the association will register, will assist 
him and other members of the Riparian Owners’ 
Association in keeping the London County 
Council off the board. A committee of thirty 
was elected at the Reading meeting, and amono' 
those nominated and elected was Mi-. C. H. Cook, 
who, I venture to say, will retire from the 
position if he finds that the association is solely 
intended to prornote private interests at the 
expense of public interests. Very likely his name 
was proposed by some one at the meeting who 
thought that his presence on the committee 
would neutralise the strong riparian element. 
It is to my mind of the first importance for the 
popular element to be represented on the board, 
and London and country anglers alike will find 
their interests infinitely better looked after if six 
or seven London (’ounty Councillors become con¬ 
servators. It is only in theory that London is 
over-represented on the board. It is quite 
evident from the extraordinary alterations pro¬ 
posed in the bye-laws that the riparian interests 
are not overpowered by London interests. As a 
matter of fact the public of London is not re¬ 
presented at all, not in the strict sense of the 
word. The members of the corporation represent 
the corporation, and there are representatives of 
other interests such as the Trinity customs, the 
owners of wharves and steamboats below bridge, 
the Admiralty, &c., &c. These gentlemen (ex¬ 
cepting always the members of the corporation) 
may not think it their duty to interfere in up-river 
matters. However that may be, it is certain that 
the up-river representatives, who unfortunately 
represent only one class of up river people (the 
riparian owners), have had things very much 
their own way hitherto. 
If the association to which I have referred 
shows an inclination to prevent London being 
properly represented on the board, I think that 
the London anglers would be well advised to send 
in a monster petition to parliament setting out 
that they desire to be projierly represented, and 
I also venture to think that it would be advisable 
to approach the Lord Mayor and Corporation of 
London as soon as possible, relative to the in¬ 
genuous attempt which is being made to increase 
the privileges of persona claiming private fisheries 
on the upper Thames. There are some members 
of the board who seem almost crazy on this 
question of netting and night-line privileges, and 
it is the holy belief in Trinity-square that the 
whole of the upper Thames is private so far as 
fisheries are concerned. If the whole of the 
river is private, what is the use of having any 
bye-laws for the use of the public? Will the 
conservancy answer that question? 
I have left myself little space to refer to the 
bye-laws. Notwithstanding the jubilant para¬ 
graphs which have been going the rounds, I am 
sorry to say that as regards the netting, &c., by 
riparian owners and others claiming private 
fisheries, the bye-law on the subject is infinitely 
more objectionable than it was before. It is true 
that words have been put in which indicate the 
necessity for procuring a licence before hoop and 
drag-nets can be used, and the mesh of those nets 
must be the size mentioned in the existing bye¬ 
laws, but by an ingenious, and, I do not hesitate 
to say, discreditable, omission of the latter portion 
of the hye-law, the persons owning private 
fisheries might use any other nets than those 
specified without licence, and of any mesh. In 
fact, they would not be touched by the bye-laws 
at all, except as regards fence seasons, the sizes 
of fish, and the licence for the two special kinds 
of nets. All other things they might do. 
Taking the bye-laws as a whole, it may be said 
that the board has, in most cases, met the wishes 
of anglers wherever those wishes did not clash 
with the wishes of the riparian members of the 
board, but that in all other respects the up-river 
or riparian representatives have had things all 
their own way, even to the backwaters, all, or 
many of them, being excluded from the operation 
of the bye-laws. It would be far better for 
Thames anglers J;o stick to the old bye-laws than 
to have the new ones with all their alterations. 
The British Sea-Anglers’ Society is progress- 
ing. Sir Edward Birkbeck has consented to be 
president, and subscriptions are flowing in 
steadily. The headquarters of the society are at 
(id. Hay market, London, not 166, as I stated 
recently. Templar. 
The Axti-Svatcihxct Regulatiox.s in the 
Border Esk. —The petition of 1:10 anglers against 
the stringent regulations adopted at the annual 
meeting of the Esk .and Liddle Fisheries Associa¬ 
tion, was considered at a special meeting, held at 
Langholm, on Tuesday. The new rule, limiting 
bait fishing to the period between June 1 and 
September 1, was relaxed so far as to permit this 
kind of fishing, except in the Esk from the head 
of Crannel Holme upwards, in which bait fishing 
may be practised till October 1. In other respects 
the demands of the petitioners were rejected, and 
a resolution was passed expressing regret that 
the association had not received from local 
anglers that amount of support in putting a stop to 
the unsportsmanlike practice of snatching salmon 
which it had a right to expect. 
ComsponUencE 
[TFe do not hold ourselves responsible for the opinions 
expressed by our Correspondentsi] 
“ One of the charms of angling is that it presents an 
endless field for argument, speculation, and experi¬ 
ment .”— T. E. Pritt. 
THAMES BYE-LAWS—SERIOUS 
ALTERATIONS. 
Sir, —In most minor points the conservators 
have met the wishes of the Thames Fishery 
Associations and anglers, but tlje standard size 
for pike remains at 18in., the.fpnce months for 
coarse fish remain unchanged, the proposed 
restrictions on fish culture are still inserted, eel- 
basket laying is still prohibited on the uppei- 
river, the backwaters are still excluded from the 
operation of the bye-laws, no restrictions are 
placed on the speed of launches during the breed¬ 
ing season, and the clause relating to privileges 
allowed to persons claiming private fisheries, is 
infinitely more opposed to the interests of fishery 
preservation than the one to which so much 
objection was taken. What is given with one 
hand is more than taken away with the other. 
Certain w-ords have been inserted, requiring 
a licence to be obtained before hoop and drag-nets 
may be used, but by an alteration of the latter 
portion of the bye-law, enormously increased 
privileges are proposed to be conferred on anyone 
claiming a private fishery. The effect would be, 
that any other nets whatever, and any apparatus, 
could be used for killing fish, so long as the fence 
seasons, and the rules as to not killing under¬ 
sized fish were observed. Dangerous privileges, 
these, to be conferred on any person owning a 
few yards of liver frontage, who likes to set up a 
claim to a private fishery. 
To make the matter quite cle.ar, I will point 
out what these persons might do if the pro])osed 
bye-law were passed by the Privy Council, and 
what they might not do. 
Persons Claiming Private Fisheries Might 
Not 
1. Take fish in the fence months. 
‘2. Kill undersized fish. 
3. Use hoop-nets of greater length than six 
yards, and drag-nets of any length, and with a 
mesh not less than 8in., without first obtaining the 
licence of the conservators. 
Persons Claiming Private Fisheries Might 
Legally 
1. Usetvithout licence any kind of flue-net, cast- 
net, etc. (hoop and drag-net excepted), of any 
length or size, and of the smallest mesh. They 
might even, were they so disposed, take a huge 
beam-trawl net down any of the reaches behind a 
steamer. 
2. Lay night-lines of unlimited length, and 
baited with any kind of bait. 
3. Set an unlimited number of trimmers. 
4. Trail, and fish with gorge bait, two methods 
which anglers will be forbidden to follow. 
b. Foulhook or snatch fish. 
6. Catch fish in any way whatever, however 
injurious to the fishery, subject to the few 
exceptions mentioned, and not prohibited by the 
criminal law. 
7. Give a thousand or more persons permission 
to do any of these things. 
These alarming and extensive alterations in the 
present fishery bye-laws are simply brought about 
by the omission of the words commencing, “ any 
of the following things,” which are found in the 
existing bye-law 14, and in bye-laiv 32 of the first 
draft of the proposed bye-laws. 
I will freely give all information in my power, 
and assist Thames anglers in opposing before the 
Privy Council so many of the bye-laws as are 
likely to injuriously affect the public and private 
fisheries alike of the Thames. Persons interested 
should carefully study Secs. 65 and 67 of the 
Thames Act of 1864. By a later Act (1866) they 
apply to the upper river.—Yours faithfully. 
South Stoke, Goring, Oxon. C. H. Cook. 
SIZE OF PORPOISE WANTED. 
Sir, Will you kindly inform me through 
the columns of your next week’s paper, the 
size and weight of the largest 'porpoise ever 
caught on the \orlishire coast, and oblige, yours 
^ J.'^H. 
