§ MR. CROMBIE (Kincardineshire)I beg to ask the Lord Advocate, will he explain why, under the Sea Fisheries Regulation (Scotland) Act, 1895, no fishing district has been created or any fishery committee formed in Scotland, whereas under the English Act of 1888 numerous fishing districts and committees have been formed; and, whether the Scotch Act has been inoperative owing to the restriction at the end of Section 5, Subsection (1); and, whether the Government will promote or will favour legislation to remove this restriction.
§ MR. A. G. MURRAYThe initiative is in the Act left to the locality. One locality only applied since the passing of the Act, bat the Applicants tailed to obtain the necessary consents of the local assessing bodies. The cases of England and Scotland are not analogous in this matter, and the same necessity for district committees does not exist in Scotland. It is possible that the section referred to in the Act may have contributed to the result, but there are many other contributory reasons. The Government are not at present prepared to promote legislation on the subject.