§ SIR E. BIRKBECK (Norfolk, E.)I beg to ask the First Lord of the Admiralty whether his attention has been called to the destruction of nets belonging to the Lowestoft fishing vessel Afghan on the night of the 13th instant by an Ostend trawler, entailing a loss of £40 to the owner besides the loss of the night's fishing; and whether he will give orders that the cruisers on fishery protection duty be instructed to keep more on the fishing grounds for the future, and where depredations are likely to take place?
§ LORD G. HAMILTONA Report was recently made to a cruiser on the fisheries that a Lowestoft fishing vessel, L.T. 110, had had her nets run into and cut by an Ostend trawler, whose name was not known. Two cruisers were on the fishing grounds at the 1661 time, and a constant and vigilant watch is kept; but with every precaution it is not possible to prevent an occasional act of depredation over such a large area as the North Sea. The Occurrence in question I understand took place a long distance from the shore.