REPORT OF THE CLOSE-TIME COMMITTEE OF THE
BRITISH ASSOCIATION, DUBLIN, 1878.
[The following Report has been presented to the British Association by the Close-Time Committee.]
It is with regret that your Committee has to report that, for the first time since its original appointment in August, 1868, the work it has not unsuccessfully had in hand has been brought in question, and this in a way which requires serious attention on the part of all who wish to preserve our indigenous animals from the extermination that, until the last few years, was threatening so many of them.
In July, 1877, it having been reported to Her Majesty's Secretary of State for the Home Department that " the herring fishery on the coast of Scotland is in an unsatisfactory state, and that it is desirable that inquiries should be made to ascertain whether any legislative regulations would tend to promote the welfare of the fishermen engaged in the said fishery, and to increase the supply of herrings for the benefit of the public," that gentleman appointed Mr. Buck- land, Mr. Spencer Walpole, and Mr. Archibald Young to be Commissioners to make such inquiries and to report to him the result thereof.
In accordance therewith, the Commissioners above-named reported to the Home Secretary, under date March 1, 1878, and their 'Report,' with 'Appendices,' was subsequently presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.
This ' Report,' containing certain conclusions arrived at by the Commissioners, naturally attracted the notice of your Committee, and, after due consideration, it was resolved that a letter should be addressed on behalf of your Committee to the Home Secretary in regard to some of those conclusions.
The following is a copy of the letter thereupon sent : —
"To the Right Honourable R. A. Cross, H.M. Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department.
6, Tenterden Street, Hanover Square, W., London, July 6, 1878.
"Sir, — The Committee of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, appointed for the purpose of inquiring into the possibility of establishing a close time for indigenous animals, having had under their consideration the Report on the Herring Fisheries of Scotland, dated
1st March, 1878, and the conclusions at which the Commissioners have