§ Mr. CRUMLEYasked the Secretary to the Treasury if he is aware that the Commissioners of Woods and Forests have recently issued public notices in the Lough Erne fisheries district, county Fermanagh, stating that they will issue licences permitting the holders to fish with single rod and line only for trout on Lough Erne, the fee for which is £1 for the season; that 402 no more than ten of these licences will be issued for any one season; and that free permits to fish with a single rod and line only for pike and other coarse fish will be issued to owners and tenants of lands adjoining the Lough and to residents in the vicinity; can he state under what Statute or by whose authority these notices have been published; is he aware that fishing for trout and coarse fish on Lough Erne and its tributaries has from time immemorial been free; are the fishery rights on Lough Erne vested in the present Erne Fishery Company under a patent of James I.; is he aware that, on the face of the licence referred to, severe penalties are set forth not only for fishing without a licence but for refusing to produce the same when demanded by any police constable or bailiff; is it intended by the resurrection of some obsolete enactment to enforce such penalties; and whether, seeing that the river Erne is one of the most popular fishing resorts in Ireland, and in view of the hardship which the tax and restrictions will impose on the poorer classes in the district, he will undertake to have this notice withdrawn?
§ Mr. MASTERMANA judgment of the Exchequer Chamber in Ireland in 1868 (Bloomfield v. Johnson) decided that the public have no right of fishing in Lough Erne, and that the fishing belongs to the Crown subject to certain rights granted to certain landowners by Letters Patent. There have been from time to time prosecutions for fishing in the Lough at the instance of the persons entitled under these patents, and convictions have followed. In recent years frequent complaints have been made that persons from a distance have descended on portions of the Lough and swept it with nets. Licences are now issued for trout fishing at a fee of £1 for the season without any limit as to number, and free permits to fish with rod and line for pike and coarse fish are granted to owners and tenants of lands adjoining the Lough and to residents in the vicinity. The sole object of the Commissioners of Woods has been to protect the fisheries from destruction, and if the hon. Member has any alternative suggestions to make for the preservation of the fishery and the benefit of the locality I shall be glad to communicate them to the Commissioners.
§ Mr. CRUMLEYIs the hon. Gentleman aware that there was never any interference with fishing on this lake for over 100 years until some prosecution took place last year, and that the Fisheries 403 Commissioners took a leaf out of the book of those who instituted the prosecution in reference to Lough Neagh?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI understand from the Commissioners that they were contemplating the possibility of the complete destruction of the fish on the Lough, but perhaps the hon. Gentleman will communicate with me to see if any better methods, can be devised of preserving the fish.