§ Mr. CLOUGHasked the hon. Member for South Somerset, as representing the President of the Board of Agriculture, whether the fishermen of Amble, in the county of Northumberland, have to take out annual fishing licences from the county council, the Duke of Northumberland, the 220 Duke of Edinburgh, the Crown, or from the State; whether these licences extend throughout the length of the River Coquet and for a distance of three miles seawards from the ordinary low-water mark; whether this licence includes other rivers besides the Coquet; what fee each licensee has to pay for the licence; and whether the licence is limited to one kind of fish?
§ The TREASURER of the HOUSEHOLD (Sir E. Strachey)No licences from the State, the Crown, or the county council are required to be taken out by the fishermen in question. We have no information as to the position with regard either to the Duke of Edinburgh or the Duke of Northumberland. Licences to fish for salmon, trout, and char are issued by the Board of Conservators of the Coquet Fishery District, the limits of which include the sea for three miles seawards between Howick Burn Mouth and Newbiggin Church Point. The conservators have jurisdiction over the River Coquet and all streams flowing into the sea between a point two miles northwards of the mouth of the Coquet and another point seven miles southward of it. The rates of licence duty vary from 2s. 6d. to £12.
Mr. CHARLES FENWICKI wish to ask the hon. Gentleman whether he is aware that these men are prohibited from fishing for salmon between high and low water, whether it is a pursuit which they have followed for the last 40 years without objection or hindrance from any quarter, and whether he is aware that they paid for their boat and licence £5, and whether they are compelled to go outside the three-mile limit to pursue their daily calling?
§ Sir E. STRACHEYI must ask for notice of this very long question, which requires a good deal of detailed answering.