§ SIR THOMAS ESMONDE (Kerry, W.)I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that a number of fishermen have been fined for fishing in the River Owen-more, County Kerry, in parts of the liver which the Fishery Commissioners have since declared to be free; and whether, in view of the fact that these men were fined for fishing where they had a right to fish, he will use his influence with the Local Justices to have the fines and the costs attaching to them remitted?
MR. J. MORLEYFishing within the limits defined by Section 44, cap. 88, of the 13th and 14th Vict., is declared to be a penal offence, unless the fishing be by a person having a "several fishery" within such limits. The circumstance of the waters being free within these limits does not touch the question, as the object of the enactment referred to is to prevent the capture of the fish at the mouths of the rivers. The fines imposed on the fishermen to whom the hon. Baronet apparently refers have been reduced to 10s. in each case with costs by the Lords Justices, and the issue of the warrants for the collection of the reduced fines is a matter for the discretion of the Local Justices, with which the Government cannot interfere.