The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-03-28


Senate bill, No. 203, to amend and re-
enact an act entitled San act to establish
and maintain uniform system of public
free Schools" approved July IL, 1870,
with the amendment proposed by the
House of Delegates, was taken up and the
amendment agreed to.
GENERAL ELECTION.
House bill to amend and re.enact Sec
tious SO, 40 aud So of an act entitled an
act to provide for general election, APP
proved May IL, 1870, as amended and re-
enacted by an act, approved July II,
1870, was passed.
House of Delegates.
House met at 10 A. M. Speaker Turner
in the chair.
PLACED ON THE CALENDAR.
House engrossed bill to extend the juris-
diction Of police justices and justices of the
peace, returned from the Senate with
amendments.
House bill authorizing the county court
of Goochland to rescind an order hereto
fore made il regard to fences, reported
from the committee on agriculture, &c.
PROTECTION OF oYsTER-BEDs.
Senate bill for the protection of the
oyster-beds of the Commonwealth, came
up, and the Senate amendments agreed to.
SENATE BILLS PASSED.
To incorporate the Rockingham Bank
ing and Trust company.
To provide for the equalization Of the
valuation of real estate and personal prop
erty between the different townships of the
counties of the State
To incorporate the Merchants Manufac-
turing company in the town of Peters,
burg.
In relation to the public printing and
the public printer. THE amendment fix
ing the salary of the public printer at
$1,000, instead of 81, 900, was reconsidered
and then rejected, and the bill passed with
out other auandments
To amend the act TO incorporate the
Piedmont and Potomac railroad company.
To amend the acts of 1867, SO as to
provide for the payment OF the interest
upon the Dawson fund.
To amend the act incorporating the town
OF Powelton, Amherst county.
10 amend the act to establish and main
tain uniform system Of public free
schools.
10 amend the act supplemental to the
act providing for the collection of State
revenue and county levies for 1870.
PROPERTY OF PUBLIC SCHOOLS.
Senate bill authorizing the trustees of
the public schools Of the county of James
City to collect certain school funds and
use the same for the benefit of the public
free schools of said county, came up.
Mr. Bell, of Augusta, offered an amend
ment in the nature of substitute, provid-
ing for a county school beard in each
county, to take charge of and control all
school property.
The substitute was amended and agreed
to.
The bill SO amended by the substitute
was then passed.
THE PUBLIC DEBT.
Senate bill for the funding and payment
Of the public debt latter having been post
poned twice, one hour each time,j came
up, aud was being discussed as we close.
The Fish Failure and Its Remedy.
The increasing temperature OF the water
is attracting the shoals of the sea into the
river afluents OF the Pamlico Chesapeake,
aud Delaware, and as the fishers prepare
their pets the newspapers catch and echo
the general complaint Of the decadence of
the fisheries, which for some years has been
the fashion at this season. There can be
no doubt of the fact that the catch of fish
in all the rivers Of this section, and notably
in the Potomac, is much less than it was
a quarter Of q century ago, and even at
that period the fish came in numbers far
less than in earlier days. Indeed, the first
white voyager on the Potomac, Captain
Smith, who, in June 1908, explored the
river to the Falls, says that "the shoals of
fish were so thick that sometimes boat
could with difficulty make its way through,
and the paddle of the canoe would kill
some of them every time it struck the
water" Middle-aged men remember hauls
in which the seincs could not be drawn to
the shore, but had to be staked out, two or
three days being required to empty them.
Causes for the dminuton, nearly as
numerous as the fish themselves, have been
assigned. The wastage of gas works into
the river, the deep seines tearing up the
spawn, the noise OF the constantly plying
steamers, late fishing giIl-nets, muddy
water arising from cleared land, and
myriads Of othercauses have been suggested,
and the Richmond Enquirer now adds
another, viz: "Tbat the fish have been |
prevented from reaching the spawning
grounds by the obstruction of dams,
without fish ways across the streams" But |
we have no dams, except snch as fisher
men provide for themselves, below the Falls |
on the Potomac. and fish have fallen off |
here as elsewhere. Many of the suggested |
causes may have contributed to produce the |
result, but it is evident that the fish have
been lessenod as the deer, the rabbits, the |
coons, the foxes, and minks have been |
by hard hunting. The demand |
has pressed too hard upon tae sources Of
supply.
The Atlantic whale fishery has fallen off |
far more extensively than has the shad and
herring fisheries Of the Potomac, and proba-
bly, for the same cause Whatever may be
ths reason for the decay, it is the part of
wisdom to provide means to repair the loss,
Or else the Coming Man will monrn In vain