§ Order of the Day for the Second Reading, read.
§ LORD SUDELEY, in moving that the Bill be now read a second time, said, that it was intended to enable the Board of Trade to give protection to clam and bait beds in the same manner as to oyster and mussel beds under the Sea Fisheries Act of 1868. It had been found, especially in Scotland, that the 691 fishermen on the coast constantly discovered that the banks on which they relied to find their clams and baits had been trawled over and spoilt, so that their means of livelihood were liable to be suddenly put an end to. This had of late years much increased, in consequence of the use of steam trawlers. Of course, there was always considerable contention going on between the rival classes of fishermen; and the Board of Trade, though they had no desire to interfere to protect one industry more than another, thought it important that the hook-and-line fishermen should have their baits protected under certain conditions from beam trawls, as oyster beds now were. The Bill did not apply to Ireland, where there were already more extensive powers, and it was proposed in Committee to omit the Channel islands.
§ Moved, "That the Bill be now read 2a."—(The Lord Sudeley.)
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.