§ MR. ROUNDasked the President of the Board of Trade, If he will lay upon the Table of the House the Report of their Inspector who held an inquiry at Colchester in January last upon applications for grants of the River Blackwater for Oyster Fisheries, inasmuch as the matter is of considerable interest to all parties represented at such inquiry?
§ MR. CHAMBERLAIN,in reply, said, it had not been customary to publish the Reports in the case of the applications refused; he supposed the chief objection being the great cost. As there was some interest taken in this matter, he would inform the hon. Gentleman that the reasons why the application in this case was not granted were—Firstly, the applicants proposed to appropriate a large area of an already existing public bed or productive dredging ground; secondly, the area was a dredging and fishing ground, and the appropriation would have been detrimental to the public interest and to the owners of private oyster grounds, and to the local dredger-men and fishermen; and, thirdly, the applicants failed to show that by means of these grants the supply of oysters would be materially increased.