of the Salmon Fish, 215 



struction of the millions of fish which would proceed from 

 them. Tn the First Par. Rep.^ p. 11., Mr. Walter Jamieson 

 says, that, in the river Tweed, from January 10. to Fe- 

 bruary 1., he caught 121 fish, only one of which had 

 spawned; from February 1. to March 1., he took 44 fish, 

 25 of which had not spawned, 15 were kelts, and 4 were 

 clean fish ; from March 1. to March 10. he took 17 fish, 7 of 

 which had not spawned (4 of them on the 10th), 9 were kelts, 

 and 1 clean fish. Now, the close time varies in almost every 

 river, and some have no close time at all. Thus, in the 

 Ribble, the close time begins on September 15. and ends on 

 December 31.; and in the Hodder there is no legal close 

 time : but there is no practical difference between them in 

 this respect, every one thinking himself entitled to kill every 

 fish he can, at all times of the year, in both of them. 



The observance of the weekly close time (that is, opening 

 a passage for the fish from sunset on Saturday night to sun- 

 rise on Monday morning) is a mere farce, even if it could not 

 be evaded, as it almost invariably is ; for it is well known to 

 every one conversant with the habits of salmon, that they 

 only ascend rivers when there are freshes (floods) in them ; 

 and, in the summer, the ground is generally so dry, and 

 vegetation absorbs so much moisture, and the evaporation is 

 so great, that it not only requires twice as much rain to pro- 

 duce a flood in a river then, as it does in the winter, but, 

 when rain does come, its effects are only visible in the river 

 for a short time. I have known a strong fresh in the Ribble 

 in the morning, and the river low again in the afternoon of 

 the same day. Now, a fresh coming at the beginning of a 

 week would disappear long before the close of it, unless the 

 rainy weather continued ; and thus the strict observance of 

 the weekly close time would be of little service to the upper 

 proprietors, unless the fresh came at the right end of the 

 week. 



The smelts and par ought to be protected as strictly as the 

 salmon ; and there ought to be a penalty attached to the 

 killing of them, or having them in possession ; and conservators 

 of rivers ought to have the power of inspecting all mills and 

 manufactories driven by those rivers, to ascertain that they 

 have no contrivances for taking the fry on their way to the 

 sea, as it appears that, in some rivers, they are taken in large 

 quantities. There ought also to be a penalty attached to the 

 killing of kelt fish, which, in that state, are not only tasteless 

 and insipid, but actually unwholesome : yet they are pursued 

 and destroyed with as much avidity as the fresh fish ; and a 

 very small number of the very few that spawn in safety qvqx. 



V 4 



