PISCATORIAL SOCIETY.

The annual reunion of the Piscatorial Society took place on the 28th of November last at their head-quarters, the Star and Garter, Pall Mall, when fifty members and friends dined together. The chair was taken by P. A. Barnard, Esq., the vice-president being W. Wareham, Esq.

After the usual loyal toasts, the chairman proposed the successful prizemen of the year, Messrs. Barker, Murray, Lamport, Eyre, Barnard and Sachs,-the first named gentleman carrying off the silver vase annually presented by the society, and the other winners, a massive gold signet ring with a salmon engraved on the stone, a silver pocket flask, &c., &c.

Amongst the visitors present on the occasion were Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell, an honorary member of the society, Mr. Frank Buckland, and Mr. W. S. Brougham, the Secretary of the Thames Angling Preservation Society. The healths of these gentlemen on being put from the chair were very warmly received. Mr. Pennell in returning thanks complimented the society warmly upon its prosperity and usefulness, and pointed out the highly beneficial influence exerted, both in the suppression of poaching and the extension of fair fishing by angling clubs, of which the Piscatorial Society offered an admirable example. Mr. Frank Buckland gave a very interesting account of the Thames as it is and what (in his opinion) it will be in five years hence. Mr. Buckland also observed that fish-ladders having been now erected over Teddington and Moulsey weirs we might soon hope to catch salmon once again in our metropolitan stream, and concluded by offering a prize of ten guineas to the gentleman who shall succeed in taking the first salmon with the fly in the Lord Mayor's jurisdiction. In order to reduce the numbers of fish of prey by which the welfare of the young salmon when first turned into the river were menaced, he also offered a prize of the value of two guineas for the largest total weight of jack taken within the same limits by any member of the Piscatorial Society, during the season, between 1st January and 1st December, 1865.

Mr. Cholmondeley-Pennell in a humourous reply pointed out that there could be no question as to the great value and importance of the salmon to the Thames-if we could get him; but that at the present time we had not got him and he considered that the question whether we should ever do so, whilst the present foul state of river continued, was in the highest degree problematical. In the meantime we had got plenty of jack and many a good day's sport the members of the Piscatorial Club had no doubt enjoyed in catching them, as the splendid specimens round the walls testified. He thought that 'a bird in the hand was worth two in the bush,' or rather that a 'pike in the Thames was worth half a dozen salmon in the sea,' and he considered that the stock of pike in the river should therefore be fostered by every means, and could not but

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regard with horror the yearly turning out of thousands of young salmon and trout to prey upon their mild and defenceless ranks ! He should therefore offer a prize of two guineas value for the largest total weight of specimens of the genus salmo taken in the Thames within the same limits and under the same conditions as those attached to Mr. Buckland's prize. Mr. Brougham as honorary secretary to the Thames Angling Preservation Society requested the gentlemen present to assist him with their guineas to be expended for the fisherman's benefit in protecting the Thames, an appeal which ought to be responded to by every Thames angler. Several gentlemen then offered prizes to be fished for, amongst others Mr. Bernard, one of the oldest members of the society, who was not so sanguine about the salmon in the Thames in five years, but thought that in eight or ten years they might perhaps be introduced and hoped he might live to see it. He offered as a prize a first-rate salmon-rod to the gentleman who should take with a fly the first salmon in the Thames. Mr. Bernard also gave a trout flyrod to be fished for in the next twelve months. Various silver vases and cups won by several of the members were displayed before the chairman and were very much admired. The healths of the chairman, vice-chairman, treasurer, honorary secretary and librarian. having been given and duly acknowledged, the honorary secretary read and afterwards distributed a printed report of the affairs of the society, showing a handsome balance in hand.

T. R. SACHS, Hon. Sec.

THE THAMES.

There has been some excellent jack-fishing in the river during the last month especially at Staines, Weybridge, Walton, Sunbury, Hampton, Kingston, and under the weir at Teddington. The largest that have been reported to me were one at Kingston, of 16 lbs. and another of 12 lbs., one at Staines of 9 lbs., and several of that weight at Walton, Sunbury, and in the preserve at Hampton, and one of 6 lbs. at Teddington weir, where the fish run smaller. There have in most of these places been a few perch taken. The roach and dace fishing has been confined to the tidal water, except one or two takes at Kingston. At Teddington and Richmond the few anglers who have been out have taken some good baskets of very fine fish, the roach ranging in size from lb. to 12 lb. The water during the month has been of a very uncertain character scarcely two days alike. It will be most satisfactory to the trout fishermen to hear that at Sunbury, Halliford, and other parts of the river, a large number of very fine trout have been seen laying in the holes spawning. Assistant river-keeper Andrew Cowdery picked up a very fine trout at Chertsey in the early part of this month-it measured 2 feet 4 inches-it was a female fish quite dead, and had evidently just done spawning. The ladders at the weirs at Ted

dington and Moulsey are now completed. Altogether the prospects of the Thames fishery are very encouraging, and if the anglers generally would support the Thames Angling Preservation Society to the extent they ought to do, the Committee would be in a position to make themselves more useful in the protection and preservation of the fishery.

W. H. BROUGHAM, Isleworth.

FISH-LADDERS ON THE THAMES.

The following is an extract from a letter on this subject recently sent to the Times by Mr. Frank Buckland:

The first ladder erected is at Moulsey weir, close to Hampton Court-bridge, and the design for it was taken from that at the Galway fishery in Ireland, the property of the Messrs. Ashworth. Mr. Stephen Leach, the engineer to the Thames Conservancy Board, has taken the greatest pains in superintending and devising the details of this the first fish-ladder ever erected on our noble River Thames, and Mr. Ffennell, the Inspector of Fisheries, having examined it in his official capacity, has pronounced it perfect both in structure and operation.

The second ladder, also erected by Mr. Leach, is at Teddington weir, and has, at the suggestion of Mr. Ffennell, been made somewhat larger than at Moulsey.

Fish-ladders may be thus described :-' -Two walls are constructed from the top to the foot of the weir (on its slope). Slabs of iron or stone (the stops) are then fixed at right angles into these walls, reaching about four-fifths of the way across the passage. The slots (or passages for the fish between the wall and the end of the stop) come alternately to the right and left, so that when the water runs down the ladder it describes a zigzag (or rather serpentine) course; the fish nosing about the foot of the weir like timid foxhunters galloping up and down a severe bullfinch, in search for a gap, are attracted to the foot of the ladder by the current coming down it; they then made a rush through the lowermost opening into the first box or step, then into the next, and next, and so on till they get to the top. If they are tired they can rest as long as they please in the eddies between each of the stops. It is found, however, in practice that it does not answer to make the ascent of the ladder too easy, as, if the fish find themselves too comfortable in the eddies, they will stay there, and be liable to become a prey to poachers, as a reward for their laziness.

They ought to go up the ladder with a rush. My young salmon at the Horticultural-gardens can be seen at work any day in the model ladder there erected by Mr. Ffennell, jun., with such a rush, indeed, that in a ladder as that at Teddington, if a man and a salmon were to start fairly from the bottom the latter would swim up to the top faster than the man could run along the wall by its side. I do not think our Thames ladders conducive either to

laziness or yet to too great impulsiveness on the part of the fish, their incline being 1 in 7. The object of these ladders is to allow the white fish which naturally drop down stream after spawning, or are washed down by the floods, to return to the upper waters and now that these ladders are erected, not only will tons of parent fish escape destruction, but will carry with them their eggs, thus stocking the river with a plentiful supply of young fish, which in course of time will afford sport for the public; and this not only for the rich angler who can afford the hire of a punt, &c., but for the poor man who when angling from the bank gets a draught of pure oxygen, which does him more good than a glass of gin without the "ox," to say nothing of the fish he takes home in triumph as a proof of his skill.

The ladders will also assist the lamperns or river lampreys (Petromyzon fluviatiles) to get up to the upper waters to spawn. These fish are sold to cod fishermen for bait. The numbers of lampreys this year, from some cause unknown, has fallen off considerably.

TAY CLOSE TIME AGAIN.

The lower proprietors of salmon fishings in the Tay are seemingly determined to move heaven and earth, rather than that they should be caused to cease fishing on the 21st of September instead of the 26th. They have just despatched to Sir George Grey a memorial, setting forth not so much the ill that the loss of these five days' fishing will do them-although that is what they are driving at as a full, true, and particular account of how he, the said Sir George has bungled, guddled, and made a mess of, the exceedingly simple duties which he had to perform under the late Act. The memorial cannot possibly be very pleasant reading for Sir George, but, as the chances are that he never will read it, that perhaps is a matter of little moment. Should he read it, however, it is well to remind him that the whole drift of the memorial is dead against the tenor of recent salmon legislation, which has already improved the rental of the salmon rivers of Scotland, and notably that of the Tay-three-fourths of the rent of which the memorialists under notice pocket annually. They want Sir George Grey to help them to kill annually thousands of fish hastening to the spawning beds, which, if, instead of being killed, are allowed to remain in the river, will of course increase its produce, and so add still more to the revenues of these incorrigible grumblers. We hope that the Secretary of State will determine to make them rich in spite of themselves, by refusing the prayer of their petition.-Perthshire Journal, 24th November.

FISHERY PROSECUTIONS.

POACHING IN THE COQUET.

A number of persons were convicted at the instance of the Coquet Fisheries Association at the Alnwick Petty Sessions, on the 3rd of December, of illegal fishing.

The following are some of the particulars of the cases referred to:

There has been considerable destruction amongst the salmon in the Coquet lately, in consequence of a number of persons (all of whom had permission to fish fairly) angling illegally.

In the month of October last when the salmon were going up that river to spawn, poaching was carried on to such a degree that the Coquet Fisheries Association resolved to institute proceedings against a large number of persons who had been engaged in the destruction of the fish.

The way in which most of the fish had been caught was by using what is termed in the Salmon Fisheries Act a strokehaul or snatch. These terms are applied to one or any number of hooks attached to a line weighted with sinkers.

In order that the Association might obtain the highest authority on this subject application was made by their secretary, Mr. Benjamin Woodman, to Sir George Grey, who at once instructed Mr. Ffennell, one of the Inspectors of Salmon Fisheries for England, to attend the Alnwick Petty Sessions, and give any information that might be asked of him. Accordingly Mr. Ffennell attended the Justices' room at Alnwick on Saturday, where, before R. W. Bosanquet and Thomas Clutterbuck, Esqs., 23 cases of salmon poaching were disposed of.

Mr. W. Wilkinson, Solicitor, Morpeth, appeared for the Association.

Mr. Lawrence Mackay, of Felton (formerly of Newcastle) was summoned for using a snatch at Felton mill-dam on the 25th October, and also for having taken 10 salmon in the private fishery of the Duke of Northumberland on the same day.

P. C. Armstrong stated that on the day in question the river was in a high flood and that the salmon were going up in great numbers. The defendant had a rod and line, to which were attached a large hook with two pieces of lead to it. He threw the line across the river, allowed it to sink, and then dragging the line across the river he hooked the fish. A facsimile of the hook and line was produced, and Mr. Ffennell said the way in which the tackle in question had been used was clearly within the words "strokehaul and snatch" mentioned in the Act of Parliament.

Mr. Mackay was of opinion that he had been fishing fairly, but the bench thought differently and ordered him to pay 27. 10s. for using the snatch and 17. 10s. for the value of the fish.

Fenwick Bowman, of Felton, was summoned for taking fish in the private fishery of the Duke, and also for using a gaff in assisting Mr. Mackay to capture fish on the 25th October. For the first offence he was fined 17., and 27. 10s. for the second.

John Dobson, of Newcastle, was summoned for using a snatch in catching salmon on the 21st October, at Warkworth-dam. Mr. Middlemas defended. The magistrates considered the case proved, and ordered Mr. Dobson to pay a penalty of 37. including costs.

John Watson, of Felton, was summoned for unlawfully using the gaff in catching salmon at Felton on the 26th October. Defendant pleaded guilty, but said he was not aware at the time that he was fishing illegally. The magistrates ordered him to pay a fine of 21. including costs, or in default one month's imprisonment

The remaining cases were all similar to those already mentioned. We therefore simply append a list of the convictions, without giving a detail of the