§ Order for the Second Reading read.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEY, in 1464 moving the second reading of the Bill, said, the measure had passed through the other House of Parliament without opposition, and might he considered as supplementary to the Act of 1861. The operation of that measure had been most satisfactory. As their Lordships were aware, the sale of salmon was prohibited within a certain portion of the year; but the object of the prohibition, he was sorry to say, had been considerably evaded by the exportation of salmon captured in this country to various foreign countries. By this Bill it was proposed to enact that no salmon caught during the time at which the sale is prohibited in the district in which it is caught, shall be exported, or entered for exportation, from any part of the United Kingdom to parts beyond the seas. The infraction of this law would be visited with the penalty of £5 for every salmon, and the burden of proof was placed upon the intended exporter; and he thought it was a measure which would receive the assent of every one of their Lordships.
§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYsaid, the object of this Bill clearly was to prevent salmon from being sold during close time, and he did not think they would succeed in this object unless they not only prohibited the exportation of the fish abroad (which exportation was very large), but prevented the importation of Dutch salmon into this country, as the poached salmon was frequently sold as Dutch salmon. The only way of stopping the consumption of this fish during the close season was by preventing both its importation and exportation. He was not prepared with any proposal to carry that out; but he made the suggestion for the consideration of the noble Lord between this and the period when they would go into Committee on the Bill.
§ LORD STANLEY OF ALDERLEYsaid, he would consider the point, and see if it was possible to introduce a clause into the Bill to carry out the object the noble Earl had in view, though he feared it was impossible to do so—namely, the prevention of the sale of poached salmon under the name of Dutch salmon.
§ THE EARL OF MALMESBURYobserved, that there was an analogous case under the Game Laws. The ptarmigan, by the present Game Laws, could not be sold after the 10th of September; but the sale continued under the name of Norway game, though half the birds came from Scotland.
THE EARL OF DALHOUSIEtrusted the noble Lord would not consent to prohibit altogether the importation of Dutch salmon.
§ Motion agreed to; Bill read 2a accordingly, and committed to a Committee of the Whole House on Thursday next.
§ House adjourned at a quarter before Six o'clock, till To-morrow, halt past Ten o'clock.