The Sun.
London, England, 1864-01-01 00:00:00

SPIRIT OF THE PTJBLIO JOURNALS.

POST.—Political economists tell us that the num-
bers of the inhabitants of a country must, under the
ordinary conditions belonging to human life, de-
pend mainly on the quantities of food within their
reach. The consequences of population pressing on
the means of subsistence have often been pointed out
and acutely felt during the Irish famine, and now
also in the cotton districts. Yet this theory of food
determining the number of human beings which
may be supported within a given area would only
partly account for that stream of emigration of the
Anglo-Saxon race which since the time of Raleigh
to the present day has continued to flow to other
lands where great communities now live and flourish
in every quarter of the globe attached to the British
Crown, displaying the peculiar characteristics of
their ancestors. In spite, however, of exhausting
wars, bad seasons, emigration, and other circum-
stances, the people of these realms have significantly
increased during the last century ; and although
the land has retained its ancient boundaries, it has
been better cultivated than formerly ; its prodace
in some degree has kept pace with the public re-
quirements, and the industrial energies of the people
have enabled them to command the superabundant
supplies to be had in other quarters. Immense
progress undoubtedly has been made in the cultiva-
tion of the soil, and in the development of the best
breeds of our domestic animals. Can the same as-
sertion be made respecting the mode in which we
have managed our sea and river fisheries, which, if
properly regulated, might furnish almost inexhaus'
tibia supplies of good, wholesome food to every class
of the community ? We fear not. Interested part ies
persisted in thinking that there were as good fish
in the sea, and as many of them, too, as ever were
caught ; proprietors of salmon rivers—either forget-
ful or ignorant of the habits of the king of fresh
waters—pursued what they termed an " economi•
cal," but, in reality, an exhaustive plan of
taking fish, and what are called free waters
were infested night and day with the nets and
other engines of destruction of the poacher.
These facts became so evident of late years that
everybody acquainted with them declared that
something must be done, and accordingly Parlia•
ment facilitated the adoption by Scotch proprietors
of arrangements about gaps, close time, nets, weirs,
and the rights of the owners of upper waters, which
hava resulted.in a steady increase in the supply of
salmon ; and on the west coast of Scotland the great
herring fishery there has had all the advantages
which the visits of Commissioners and gunboats
could give it in the maintenance of close time and
the prohibition of trawl nets, even those tha' sweep
inshore. Two years ago the Inspectors of Salmon
Fisheries in England and Wales began their exami-
nation of the chief rivers to which salmon resort,
and their annual reports are replete with vakuable
information, and contain useful hints about the
management of salmon property, which, if adopted
by those chiefly interested, cannot fail to produce
some improvement in the condition of our rivers.
Commissioners appointed by Parliament are now
busily engaged in taking the evidence of the fisher-
men residing at the principal stations along the
English coast, in order to attempt a solution of the
difficult problem whether the use of trawl-nets is
injurious or otherwise to our sea fisheries, and dur-
ing the last session Sir Robert Peel's Salmon Act
for Ireland was passed, which, by means of a com-
promise, proposed to reconcile conflicting interests;
and commissioners are now at work in that country,
inspecting the obstructions that had gradually accu-
mulcted in tidal waters, and ordering the demoli-
tion of many of them, on the ground of their being
impediments to navigation. In reviewing, then,
the efforts of Parliament to increase the supplies of
food to beifound in British seas and rivers, it cannot
be justly said that it has been inattentive to the
wishes of the public when it complained of the
errors that were being committed in the suicidal
methods which were adopted in the management of
those streams especially frequented by tae sal-
monidee ; and, strange to say, most of the late im-
provementeeffected therein have been simply returns
to the rules and traditions of our ancestors, as
pra3tised centuries ago. It is satisfactory
to know that we shall, in all human
probability, have for the future continually
increasing quantities of this magnificent fish and
its congeners, and it may not be out of place to re-
mind owners of rivers that they should cultivate
salmon in preference to all other species of the finny
tribes, as its numbers can be limited only by the
extent of the breeding grounds to which it has ac-
cess. It attains its rapid growth in the sea, and
invariably returns, after a certain time, to the same
river whence it sprung, either for its own pleasure
or for other natural purposes. With reference to
our sea fisheries, there is little doubt that much dif-
ference of opinion prevails as to their present condi-
tion, The fact, however, is certain that the supply
is not equal to the demand, Turbot, soles, cod, and
all the commoner sorts and shell-fish, oysters espe-
cially, are both dearer and scarcer than they used
to be. Probably an increased consumption for this
article of food, stimulated by railways, may partly
ae,sount for the diminution in this supply, and the
ente voiced price of sea fish may lead to destructive
meth, Ids of capture. From ascertained facts con-
nected
with the natural history of our river fish,
especially salmon, trout, and grayling, it is found
that they' deposit their ova on shallow gravelly beds,
and their fscundation ponds mainly on their re-
ceiving the influences of the light and heat of the
sun, and those of a running stream. Arguing then
from analogy, .'t seems reasonable to suppose that
the fish of the se,‘ deposit their spawn in those sandy
bays which abouk Ad off every coast where they can
conceal tl iem from ,`he depredations of their enemies,
and at ST tell a model 'ate depth that the heat of the
sun can reach and via ify them. There is abundant
evidence to be had in .Favour of the probability of
this supp osition, and sh ould it turn out to be founded
on fact, i t may tend to modify the use of trawl-nets,
which ct n'tainly rake the bottom, and perhaps ulti-
mately r as prohibit their working with a certain dis-
tance of: the shore. Unfortunately it is difficult,
for ob vioms reasons, to ascertain accurately the
habits of the denizens of the salt water, but surely
enough known of them to discontinue the practice
catchin g sprats (which may be the young of her-
ring) iu such quntitiee,,,thitt Pefere the establibh.