§ COLONEL MCCALMONT (Antrim, E.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been drawn to the reply of the Fisheries Department (Ireland) to the request of the Conservators of the Coleraine district, to the effect that no alteration in the close time could be made without legislation; whether any alteration has been made in the law since the present close season was fixed; and whether measures can be taken for the proper preservation of districts by having a general close time proclaimed through them.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) The Coleraine Board of Conservators approached the Department with a view to a change of close season in their district. The clerk to the board was informed on the 23rd February last that the action of the Irish Fishery Authority in charging all the expenses of a charge of close season under 5 and 6 Vic., c. 106, sec. 33, to the Parliamentary Vote instead of to applicants for such changes was questioned in Parliament in the year 1895, and that in view of the possibility that such action 1097 should be held to be ultra vires, and of the fact that it had been found in practice to be impossible to carry out the provisions of the section exactly, the holding of close season inquiries had been suspended until a favourable opportunity presented itself in Parliament for introducing legislation to meet the difficulties of the case. On the 13th March last, the clerk was informed that the Department were not prepared to hold the close season inquiry asked for. The provisions of Section 33 above referred to have never been looked upon as workable. It would be undesirable that the same close season should be in force in every part of each district.