§ VISCOUNT MACDUFFasked the Under Secretary of State for the Home Department, Whether, considering the time which has elapsed since the Royal Commission on the Sea Fisheries in 1863, and the persistent complaints of the Scotch Fishermen since that Commission, and considering also the unsatisfactory results of the Herring Fishery in the Firths of Scotland, and notably in the Moray Firth and the Firth of Forth, he will cause an inquiry into the whole subject to be made by a Royal Commission, or otherwise; and, whether he will undertake to do so without delay?
§ SIR HENRY SELWIN-IBBETSON,in reply, said, the Home Secretary was not prepared to make an inquiry into the effect of all the legislation which had taken place on this subject; but, looking to the complaints that had been made since the Sea Fisheries Commission sat in 1863, he was prepared to grant an 991 inquiry into those complaints and those fisheries. That inquiry, however, would not be confined to the sea fisheries on the Scotch coast, but would extend to those of the whole of Great Britain. With regard to the last part of the Question, the Home Secretary was desirous of causing the inquiry to be made without any unnecessary delay.