§ MR. RIDLEYsaid, he would beg to ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether his attention has been called to the fact that during the last season the herring fisheries on the coast of Northumberland, especially in the neighbourhood of Dunstanborough Castle, were seriously injured by the intrusion of French boats into British water; and, whether He will undertake 1142 that at all events during the six weeks succeeding the 1st of August in each year, the adequate protection to which they are entitled shall be afforded to these fisheries by the presence of a gunboat in communication with the fishermen, and cruising wherever the shoals of herrings present themselves?
MR. BRUCEreplied that the protection given to herring fisheries on the coast referred to by the hon. Gentleman would be renewed at the next fishing season.