ADMINISTRATION on THE LAWS. 179

colony in England, as not adapted to Newfoundland. One of the objections is, the salary of the judges, and the expense connected with their travelling, or going and returning by water to and from different parts of the island. Some of the old laws, which were probably necessary at the time they werepassed, are still in force, and are considered at present highly objectionable ; one in particular, the tendency of Which was very clearly explained to me by an intel- ligent gentleman* residing many years at St John’s, and lately returned from that place. By this law, which is of many years’ standing, and Which I cer- tainly consider to have been necessary at the time it was enacted, the merchant who furnishes the planters, or fishermen, with supplies in the early part of the season, has a lien on their property, of whatever kind, but only for the whole of that season ; and the con— sequence is, that if the planter or fisherman be so unfortunate, which very frequently happens, as not to take a sufficient quantity of fish to pay for the supplies, the merchant, as he must lose his claim altogether if he allow it to remain over till the fol- lowing season, is under the necessity of seizing on all his debtor has, as it would otherwise fall into the hands of the merchant who supplied the same person the ensuing year. If this law were modified, so as to give the merchant alien only on the fish, oil, fishing— tackle, and whatever else he supplied, and the pro- perty that the planter possessed at the commencement

“* Charles Fox Bennett, Esq.