The Sun.
London, England, 1824-08-31 00:00:00

[MORNING Pos r. ]

into the state of the Salmon Fisheries
published the
The Select Committee appointed to inquire
into
United Kingdom have just their 'First
Report. The evidence relates, with some
slight exceptions,
exclusively to the rivers of
Scotland, the Tweed, Tah 6". ; and real!] (ads
initting the subject to be naturally not a dry
one) the facts disclosed respecting the habits of
salmon—the different modes of taking them—and
various other circumstances connected with this
branch of our fisheries, are extremely inte-
resting. One alarming point—at least so our
City friends will esteem it—is fully established
by all the witnesses examined_namely, that the
produce of the Salmon Fisheries, both in Great
Britain and Ireland, has greatly decreased for se-
veral years past! The next thing to be Rileer.
wined was of course the causes of this declension,
with a view to their removal,and the consequent
improvement of so important a species of domestic
industry and rational gratification. Theso causes
appear to be first the disuse of stake nets in
estuaries—the employment of coble nets in
places where the fish spawn—the destruction
g themselves, by
ot 0 the
ravages fry
ab,yn
[al g ehres
saailt innmill
grampuses, porpoises, and seals, at the embochures
of the rivers--wed lastly' the havoc committed
by poachers in " the close Season" on salmon run-
niug up to the shallows to spawn, or on those re-
turning to the sea after spawning. The evidence
upon all these points is truly curious—and when
we state that it is asserted the roe of a female
fish contains on an average from twenty to
twenty-six thousand ova, all of which, if un-
molested, come to life, and ultimately to per-
fection,
we flatter ourselves a ground is laid
for investi,,atine; the sources of that annual
decrease already noticed, which is unques-
tionably an effect in esery respect so much to
be regretted. The injuries committed by cubic
nets are thus explained—their constant action
disturbs the sand or gravel iu which the spawn is
deposited, and frustrates the object of nature in
supplying salmou with the instinct necessary to
the perpetuation of their own species. One wit-
ness, for instance, emphatically said that a person
might us well expect a good crop of onions after
a heavy rope had been twenty or thirty times
dragged over the beds where they grew, as a pro-
lific brood of salmon after the employment of the
cubic net. The necessity of preventing the loss
of fry in mill courses will also he evident from the
two following circumstances :—that these young
Esh always choose easy water, and avoid the cur.
rent in the centre of the rivers—while in one
stance a witness was enabled to state from expe-
rience that he had know') such myriads of salmon
fry to be killed by a single mill that they were
taken up dead hi baskets-full from behind the
wheel! The depredatious of poachers arelriak:.-
wise seriously detrimental, but they do not seem
to stand any comparison with those of the g
poses, porpoises,
and seals, referred to above.
The latter" chase the salmon in packs like dogs ;"
and one witness is confident " they destroy
twice the quantity of fish caught by man." An.
ether witness thinks 44 a porpoise may devour four
salmon a-day, and that these animals may de.
stroy hi the River Tay four times as many as
all the fishermen," with many facts tending to the
same conclusion. The evidence further proves the
advantage of stake nets, aud as legal obstructions
have been raised to this mode of catchingsanit:
luau, the subject is entitled to the fullest
examination. In what way, and to what extent,
the ipterfereuce or the Legislature is required) Will

be apparent fro* ejia 'foregoing abstrict ; and
that such interfetence is called for we think no
one can for a moment doubt. One of the first
steps however to be taken ought to be the out-
lawry of gran3puses,porpoises,and seals,upon every
part of the coast where salmon is found. This
one measure, we venture to say, would produce
the most beneficial results, and coupled with a
few other provisions directed to the removal of
acknowledged and general evils, such as above
described, would, we are certain, restore the
salmon fisheries of the United Kingdom to more
than their former prosperity. We are sure, too,
when Parliament has so zealously entered on the
inquiry, and so skilfully conducted that part of it
already concluded, that a short time will suffice
to bring the whole to a satisfactory termination ;
and with these anticipations we willingly close
these remarks for the present.

IRELAND.

ASSIZE INTELLIGENCE.
( From the Dublin Freeman': Journal.)
CONVICTION OF SIX MURDERS:RS.

At the Assizes of Kilkenny, on Monday, six
unfortunate men were convicted of the murder of Mr. Marum,
which excited SO great is sensation when it occurred. The trial
last 15 hours, three and a half of which the Lord Chief Justice
(who presided) occupied in charging the Jury and recapitulat-
ing the evidence, from 113 pages of notes. His Lordship was
upwards of 16 hours on the bench. The verdict was returned,
and sentence of death passed, at eight o'clock on Tuesday morn.
ink. The scene was awful beyond any thing which .has occur-
red in that county for many years.
The following is an abstract report of the trial alluded to :
On Monday (the 23d instant) this most important tidal
came on before the Lord Chief Justice, in the County Court.
house, Kilkenny. We have ample notes of the proceedings,
but find ourselves quite unable to transcribe them for the press
this day, even if our previous arrangements hail left space for
the report. The persons charged with this atrocious offence
' were Michael Campion, Robert Marshall, Patrick Whelan,
Minas Sales, William Whelan, and William Delany. They
refused to join in their challenges, and Campion was put for-
ward alone. After he had challenged his quantum, and a
number had been set aside by the Crown, a very respectable
Jury was sworn, by whom the rest of the prisoners then agreed
to be tried. The miserable men were given in charge by ten
o'clock on Monday, and the Jury did not retire until one o'clock
on Tuesday morning. The patience and impartiality of the
Learned Judge, his anxiety to unravel the mystery, and to as-
certain
the truth, during the whole of this protracted and fa-
tiguing trial, was highly honourable to the Irish Bench ; and
though we shall not presume to declare that it was never equal.
led, we are sure we can with safety say it never was surpassed,
in any similar case on the other side of the Channe'. Every
prisoner had his alibi witnesses t and what was to us a no.
velty, one of them brought forward three witnesses to prove
that the Informer was innocent of the murder with which he ac-
cused himself and the prisoners, and that he was idling at Kil.
kenny, 16 miles from the fatal scene, at, and for days before and
after, the time it was committed. About 11 o'clock p.m. the'
Lord Chief Justice began to sum up the evidence. His pre-
liminary remarks were eloquent, forcible, and lucid. He had
not gone over the whole of the evidence before one o'clock, and
he waited on the bench till a querter past two, when, the Jury
not being agreed as to two of the prisoners, he retired. At eight
o clock he returned to the judgment-seat, and the Jury were
called ow, when they gave in a verdict of Guilty against all
the prisoners.
The scene in the crowded Court now surpassed any thing we
had ever witnessed. A great number of women anti some men
began to cry aloud, eloping their hands and tearing their hair
at the same time. Campion and Marshall turned about and
cast an indignant look on the
,mournera. When the Chief
Justice began his solemn and afi'ecting address, it produced a
temporary calm, but when lie put on the black cap to pronounce
sentence of death, the screeching and loud hysteric sobbing were
renewed. The unhappy men are to be executed tomorrow
(Thursday last, 211th inst.) in Oalmoy, on the spot where they
committed that dreadful crime which 1118 brought them to a
premature and ignominious end. Their bodies are to be brought
back to the County Hospital to be dissected and anatomized.
Some of them exclaimed " Innocent" One called for " a long
day, and one of them threw his hat indignantly from him to the
ground. The crowd rushed out of Court as the prisoners des.
(Tilde(' through the dock, and the loud and terrific symptoms
of affliction were doubly manifested in the Street, and till they
againstia iss e passed up (till, ie
multitude).lii m es ' e-rteoe tth (eticioeuennt
ytrance gaol. of which
The
onlyw ashg indifferenttrdc ii
persons were the prisoners. .

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