alterations regarding it in Great Britain, or advise its being adopted in the regulation of the Fisheries of another part of the United Kingdom.

After reciting the acts of the 48th of his Majesty, and the others of the 51st and 52d, for amending and renewing the same, it is enacted, "That the said recited acts shall, subject to the alterations and amendments herein contained, be, and the same are, made perpetual; and, from the 1st day of June 1815, all letters patent, appointments, rules, regulations, orders, and directions granted, made, or given under or by virtue of the said acts, or any or either of them, and in force at the time of passing this act, shall be good and effectual, and remain and continue in force, unless or until any of them shall be altered, varied, or annulled, under any of the powers and authorities of the said act, or of this act."

By the 2d section, the Lord Advocate and the Solicitor General for Scotland are added to the Commissioners.

3. Commissioners sworn, with copy of oath.

4. Reports to be made of their proceedings on or before the 1st day of November to the Board of Trustees or Commissioners for Fisheries and Manufactures in Scotland, and also to Parliament, within 14 days after the commencement of every session, a copy of said report, signed by the said Commissioners for the Herring Fishery.

rel.

5. Exportation bounty repealed, amounting to 2s. 8d. per bar

6. Bounty on cured herrings encreased from 2s. to 4s. per barrel, on all which shall be caught, landed, cured, and packed, according to the regulations prescribed, and which shall be produced to and inspected by the proper officer of the Fishery, after the 1st day of June 1815.

7. Vessels fitted out for the Deep Sea Fishery may take cod and ling.

9. Superintendant to be appointed by the Admiralty for Loch and Coast Fishery.

10. Superintendant authorised to seize nets forfeited by act of the 48th of his Majesty.

11. Herring-nets set or hauled on Sunday to be forfeited.

12. Herring-barrels not to be made, in whole or in part, of fir, to be half-inch thick throughout, and to contain 32 gallons, English wine

measure.

13. Commissioners empowered to fix the measure by which fresh herrings are to be bought and sold.

14. Regulations for clearing out vessels (other than busses on the tonnage bounty) for the British Herring Fishery.

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15. Unlawful nets to be forfeited.

16. Regulations for clearing out vessels for, and discharging them from, the British Herring Fishery, not to extend to boats which shall not exceed the burden of four tons.

17. The quantity of salt used daily in curing herrings not required to be specified in account, but oath made of the total quantity used in the curing of the herrings therein mentioned.

18. Herrings not to be deemed to be gutted, within the meaning of this act, unless gutted, cured, and packed within 24 hours after they were taken.

19. Declaration of transhipment may be verified at the port of landing.

20. Herrings cured on shore, account of to be kept and delivered to the proper officer of the Fishery, under a penalty of £5.

21. Copy of such part of said account as relates to gutting herrings to be delivered by the officer to the curer.

22. Bounty allowed on additional barrels used in repacking, and on substituted barrels.

23. Bung-packed herrings, branded for bounty, may be repacked, and the surplus barrels branded, but no bounty allowed thereon.

24. Herrings cured otherwise than in bulk not to be mixed with herrings cured in bulk.

25. Herrings cured in bulk to be packed in barrels marked, Bulk. 26. Refuse of red herrings to be packed and marked, Refuse. 27. Barrels containing herrings cured in pickle, in tight vats, pits, cisterns, and hogsheads, not to be marked, Bulk.

28. Regulations regarding white herrings imported from Ireland, Isle of Man, or other places in the King's dominions, to be marked with the word Irish, if imported from Ireland; if imported from the Isle of Man, the word Manx; and if from any other island or colony, with the word descriptive of the place they came from.

29. Size of letters in words required by this act to be branded on barrels.

30. Herrings to be fifteen days in salt before being entitled to bounty.

31. Bounties not to be paid on barrels under certain weight.

32. At what ports or places herrings may be branded for bounty. 33. Herrings intended for the bounty hereby granted, to be gutted with a knife. Whether or not so gutted to be specified in account or journal; part of the bounty to be withheld from herrings not gutted with a knife.

34. Certificates for repacked herrings sent coastways, not required for herrings branded for bounty.

35. Barrels under weight not allowed to be exported; if tendered to be shipped, forfeited.

36. Mode of settling disputes between officers and curers.

37. Premiums under recited, act 48 Geo. III, cap. 110, extended to vessels fishing on the coast of Great Britain, Ireland, or the Isle of Man.

38. What vessels shall be deemed to be fitted out for the British Herring Fishery, and what herrings deemed to be brought from the Fishery.

39. Commissioners authorised to remit penalties.

40. Half barrels entitled to half bounty.

41. Commissioners may alter rules.

42. Penalties and forfeitures, how to be sued for. 43. Rules, &c. to remain in force.

SECTION XIII.

The Boat Fishery encreased by the Acts before recited-The Quality of the Cured Herrings improved by the Regulations of the Commissioners The Fisheries never can be extended, without a total Repeal of the Salt Duties.

We have been led to extend this little work to a greater length than we intended, but hope the importance of the subject, in a national point of view, will be some apology for our tedious details. It often happens in conversation, that a subject, known to all, is placed in a new point of view, that renders it generally interesting. So much has been said, and so much has been written, respecting the British Fisheries, that we are afraid that it is a task far beyond our slender abilities to pretend to give any new explanation that will be deserving of much interest, either with the public or with the Legislature. But although much has been done, certainly much remains to do.

We have already seen, that all the encouragements held out have completely failed in establishing the Deep Sea Herring Fishery. But it is not so with regard to the Boat Fishery. In the Report of the Commissioners for the Herring Fishery, presented to the House in the beginning of last Session of Parliament, they state "That by a comparison of these accounts (contained in the Report) with the account of the preceding year, in which the quantity of herrings brought under the cognizance of the officers of the Fishery, was greater than at any former period, it will be seen that a very considerable increase has taken place in the quantity cured gutted, while the quantity cured ungutted, is much less than usual.

"By last year's statement, the quantity cured gutted was 105,372 barrels. By the present accounts, the quantity cured gutted is 135,981 barrels, being an increase within the period of this Report of 30,608 barrels.

"The quantity cured ungutted last year was 54,767 barrels. In the present year the quantity cured ungutted is only 26,670 barrels, being a decrease of 28,706 barrels.

"The total quantity brought under the review of the officers, last year, was 160,139 barrels. In the present the total quantity is 162,651 barrels; being an increase upon the whole of 2,5124 barrels. "It will also be seen, that a great increase has taken place in the quantity found entitled to bounty.

"The quantity branded last year for bounty was 83,376 barrels. In the present the quantity branded is 116,436, being an increase in the present year of no less than 33,060 barrels.

"It will further be observed, that although the total quantity exported this year is less than in the preceding, yet considerable increase has taken place in the quantity of gutted herrings exported, and that the diminution has only taken place in the exportation of ungutted herrings.

"The total quantity exported last year was 141,305, barrels. In the present, the total is 107,688 barrels; being a decrease of 33,617 barrels.

"In the preceding year, the quantity of gutted herrings exported was 63,938 barrels. In the present year, the quantity exported is 81,544, being an increase of 12,606 barrels.

"In the preceding year, the quantity of ungutted herrings exported was 72,367 barrels. In the present year, only 26,143 barrels of ungutted herrings were exported, being a diminution of 46,223 barrels.

"From the foregoing statement," the Commissioners add, that "it is apparent that the practice of gutting herrings is daily gaining

ground; and, from the effect of the measures now in progress for enforcing attention to the cure, and to the quality of the barrels, the Commissioners are more and more sanguine in their expectations, that the time is not far distant, when the character of the British Fishery will stand as high as that of any other nation in Europe.”*

On this expectation of the Honourable the COMMISSIONERS for the Herring Fishery we sincerely congratulate the country, and earnestly hope that those expectations may be realized. For although the Deep Sea Fishery has not hitherto been prosecuted with any vigour, the coast Fisheries are very extensive, and, no doubt, may be rendered of the utmost importance, as producing food for the inhabitants of those countries, and affording employment, not only to great numbers of fishermen, but to many poor persons on shore, in the curing and packing the fish and manufacturing the casks, &c.

But it must not be forgotton, in any review of the subject of the Fisheries, to endeavour to impress on the attention of the Legislature and of the public, that the formation of all regulations, boards, and officers for the direction and government of the Fishery, are very lame and imperfect expedients, to be tolerated only while the necessities of Government oblige Ministers to keep up the tax on salt.

On this subject, we cannot better express ourselves than in the words of the author of a publication on the supply of employment and subsistence for the labouring classes in Fisheries, Manufactures, and the cultivation of Waste Lands, with remarks on the operation of the SALT DUTIES and a PROPOSAL for their REPEAL.

The author, after explaining the great advantages with which salt, if free from duty, could be applied in agriculture, and various branches of manufactures, and for being mixed with the food of domestic animals, and particularly in bringing in waste lands, adds, “ The advantage of augmenting the number of cultivated acres in this country, would certainly be of use at present, and would have permanent effects on the increase of employment and subsistence in future. In many instances, however, legislative sanction would be necessary to enable the parties interested to proceed to exclusive cultivation; but in the millions of acres that surround our coasts, no partition of property, no cultivation of soil is required; we have only to reap what the bounty

This report of the COMMISSIONERS of the HERRING FISHERY having, in terms of the Act of Parliament, been communicated to the TRUSTEES for MANUFACTURES, &c. at Edinburgh, THE TRUSTEES, thinking that it conveyed information of importance to all concerned in the Herring Fishery, have ordered it to be printed, and distributed throughout the country. Bb