§ COLONEL SYKESsaid, he wished to ask the Lord Advocate, Whether he has made inquiry into the truth of the Statement of the Chairman of a public meeting held at Glasgow on the 4th of February last, that trawling for herrings had been pursued in the lochs on the Western Coast of Scotland during the last fishing season; and whether any defects in the Herring Fishery Bill, passed last Session, have been brought before the notice of the Fishery Board of which he was a Member; and if he intends to bring in a Bill this Session to remedy these defects?
THE LORD ADVOCATEsaid, his attention had been directed to the fact that trawling for herring had, to some extent, been prosecuted during the last season. This had arisen not so much from the defect of the Act as from the limited amount 544 of force employed to prevent it, and the great extent of coast that force had to watch. There were some minor defects in the Herring Fishery Bill of last Session, which, in some degree, interfered with the prosecution for penalties, and this circumstance might render some amending Bill necessary.