ward of Staines Bridge, to Yendal (sometimes called Kendal) Yenland or Yenfleet, East of London Bridge: The Stone which marks the Boundaries to the East, being not far from Upnor Castle. This Jurisdiction includes part of the River Medway, and its Cognizance extends to the removing all wears and other nuisances in the River; and all encroachments by Buildings or Wharfs on the shores; to preserve the Fisheries, and seize unlawful Nets; and to punish the Fishermen offending against the Ordinances made for the Regulation of their Conduct by City Authority.

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In order to execute the proper Orders enacted by this Authority, the Lord Mayor, for the time being, is by various Charters appointed to exercise and execute the Office of Bailiff and Conservator of the Waters of Thames and Medway, and of every Bank, Shore, and Wharf thereof, within the Port of London; for which purpose he hath a deputy or substitute, by the name of the Under or Deputy WaterBailiff, whose office is to discover and bring to punishment all Offenders as to any of these points.

It is the duty therefore, of this Officer, besides enforcing the Regulations respecting the Fishery, (on which more shall be said hereafter) to notice and report all encroachments on the River or its Banks, and all Nuisances and Annoyances, whereby the Navigation may be obstructed, or in any respect injured; such as throwing Rubbish into the River, pitching Poles, erecting Wharfs, making Causeways

and

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and Stairs, continuing or increasing Aytes, making or continuing Stages, erecting Walls, building Pot Galleries, planting Oziers, laying Mooring-Chains in the River, and obstructing the Navigation, by laying Lighters and Craft in improper situations; and to receive instructions with respect to the Indictment of Offenders.

The Lord Mayor, for the time being, as Conservator of the River, has been accustomed to hold about eight Courts of Conservancy in the course of a year; that is to say, one or two for each of the four Counties of Middlesex, Surrey, Kent, and Essex. At the first of these Courts the Jury are sworn and charged; and at the second they present such Nuisances and Encroachments as they think fit, and try such Traverses as come before them.

On convic

tion of Offenders, they are either fined, or imprisoned; or the Nuisances and Encroachments are ordered to be removed.

A very slight knowledge of the habits and practices of persons who support themselves as Labourers by the Trade of the River Thames, and of the multitude of Nuisances and Obstructions, which must naturally be expected, prove how inadequate such a System must necessarily be to the removal of these Evils. This is further obvious from the very few instances of punishment which have occurred in the course of the 18th Century. (p) Had there existed

(p) See Minutes of the Evidence before the Committee of the House of Commons, on the Wet Dock Bill, page 110. a Police

a Police, adequate to the object, it is not too much to say, that if the convictions had corresponded with the Offences, they must have increased, at least, one thousand fold; but the truth is, that this ancient Court of Record is too circuitous in its procedure, and by no means adapted either to the present state of society, or to the object of preventing the evils which it was established to control. These have therefore, multiplied like other more atrocious offences in a ratio which is not to be conceived. For the purpose of repressing the evil by the conviction and punishment of offenders, a large circle is described, in order to accomplish an object which, by a summary jurisdiction (which applies peculiarly to offences of this nature) might be reached by a direct line; unincumbered by those formalities which, while they impose great hardships on the Subject and the City Magistrates, only tend to limit and reduce the rights of innocence, by extending the liberty of evil

doers.

By a Statute of Queen Anne (9 Ann. c. 26. A. D. 1710) for the better preservation and improvement of the Fishery, in the River Thanes, and for regugating the Fishermen of the said River; power was given to the Fishermen's [Fishmongers'] Company, to make Bye-laws, to prevent abuses in the Fishery; under the control of the Court of Lord Mayor and Aldermen: with a saving of all the rights of the City and of the Lord Mayor, as Conservator of the River. It appears, that certain Bye-laws and Regulations were made accordingly; but, that from the year 1727, the Company ceased to act, and few exertions of any kind were made on this subject, till the year 1757; in the beginning of which, the Court of Common Council presented a Petition to the House of Commons, setting forth this neglect, and praying that as the Office of Bailiff and Conservator of the Thames and Medway, had been vested in the Mayor, &c. of London, time out of mind, leave might be given to bring in a Bill for the more effectual preservation of the fry and spawn of Fish, in the River Thames, and Waters of Medway, for the better regulating the Fisheries thereof, and for the more speedy punishment of Offenders. An Act was in consequence passed (30 Geo. II. c. 21) which declared that the Lord Mayor and Aldermen of London should have full power, and they were required, to make Rules and Ordinances, for the governing and regulating all persons who should fish or drudge in the River Thames, and Waters of Medway, (within the jurisdiction of the Mayor of London, as Conservator of the said River and Waters) as common Fishermen or Drudgermen, or otherwise: and for declaring in what manner they should demean themselves in Fishing; with what manner of Nets and Engines; at what times and seasons they should use Fishing; for ascertaining the assise of the several Fish to be taken; and for the preservation of the spawn

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spawn and fry of Fish, within the jurisdiction aforesaid. Also for obliging every common Fisherman or Drudgerman, to have his christian name and surname, and place of abode, painted in large and legible characters on his Boat: To annex reasonable penalties and forfeitures for the breach of such Rules, not exceeding 51. for any one offence; and from time to time, to alter and amend such Rules, and to make new ones, so as the same were allowed and approved of by the Lord Chancellor, Lord Keeper, or Commissioners of the Great Seal, the two Lords Chief Justices, and the Lord Chief Baron, or any two of them. This Act was still farther enforced by the Stat. 33 Geo. II. c. 27. (of the penalties imposed by which, notice will be taken in a subsequent Chapter.) The execution of such parts of both these Acts, as relate to the sale of fresh Fish at Billingsgate, to the punishment of persons having unsizeable Fish, or Spawn, &c. and to the penalties against regrators or forestallers of Fish, is specially committed by the Act, to the Under Water-Bailiff of the City, and to cer tain other City Officers, called Yeomen of the Waterside. The last Rules and Ordinances made under these Acts, were confirmed by the Judges, and promulgated in 1785.

But however well intended all these Rules and Provisions might be, to guard against the abuses in the Fish Trade, it has been truly remarked by a valuable writer on the History of London (Noorthqucky that no accumulation of laws, or trials of schemes,

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