§ MR. WEIRI beg to ask the Lord Advocate if he will state how many convictions were obtained in the year 1899 against persons engaged in illegal trawling in Scottish waters, and in how many instances there was a repetition of this offence by the same master; will he state in how many cases the men elected to go to prison rather than pay the fines imposed; and whether in all cases the trawling gear of convicted trawlers was confiscated.
§ *THE LORD ADVOCATE (Mr. A. GRAHAM MURRAY,) ButeshireI am informed by the Fishery Board for Scotland that there were seventeen prosecutions for illegal trawling in Scottish waters undertaken in 1899, and convictions were obtained in all of them. In one instance there was a repetition of the offence. In three cases the offenders chose the alternative of imprisonment. The gear belonging to nine of the trawlers implicated was forfeited.