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NEWTON Artificial breeding is very good when the upper proprietors attend to it, but 



STEWART, nature will breed more fish than man. 



Does not agree to the proposed extension of net fishing to 20th September. 

 Thinks that rod fishing will do no harm if extended longer. 



Used to think artificial floods by means of sluices at the head of a river 

 would be a good thing. It has been tried here, and does quite well. The 

 river may be raised eight or nine inches in five hours, and induce the fish to 

 run up. 



Rivers with lakes are always early. 



Diseased fish should be killed and removed. 



Capt. James Dalrymple Hay. — Agrees with the evidence of Major 

 Stewart ; but cannot speak as to his theory about rain water. 



Thinks the kelts being crowded in small pools when the river is dry in the 

 spring, leads to disease. 



Speaks of the Luce. Formerly the river did not dry up as now. Has 

 seen the river fall six feet in 14 hours. 



Would have it compulsory to have all pools cleared and all fish destroyed 

 with any sign of disease after 1st April. The Luce is very late, and kelts will 

 stay in it till May. Would even authorise the destruction of kelts by anyone 

 after 1st April, even if not diseased. This might also apply to the Cree. 

 It is a disease that attacks kelts. 



Saw some salmon two years ago, in 1878, badly marked on the dorsal fin. 



It is a new disease to him, but has heard of it before. 



The salmon in the Luce have much fallen off during the last 16 years. In 

 1866 it used to remain in fishing order for two days, and now it is only in order 

 for six hours after a flood. 



Sea trout have enormously increased. They run up to 9 lbs. in weight. 



Reverend John Barclay. — Has lived on the banks of the Cree for 30 

 years. Has heard the evidence as to the disease. Attributes it to over-fishing 

 and other causes. 



The stake nets are too near the river. 



Has seen a few diseased fish. The first was about two years ago in the 

 Cree. Saw a kelt on the bank ; it was all yellow, and had a decayed appear- 

 ance. Saw last season several fish, all decayed, left on the bank. Saw no 

 fungus on them. Believes it is due to the foul water from drainage and 

 sewage. The effects of sheep washing are infinitesimal. 



The sheep drains in the summer are infested with moles : dead sheep are 

 buried ; and the refuse from these, together with the droppings of the sheep, 

 &c, is carried into the river, and the collection of putrid matter causes 

 disease. Fungi (toadstools, &c.) grow in the grass which grows where this 

 sediment falls. The side pools of the river are not cleaned out by floods, and 

 the water coming out of these pools helps to poison the fish. Thinks the 

 rivers should be flooded and washed out every week. 



Major Stewart's theory may be right in excessively wet seasons.^ 



The Cree rises in a great deep lake, 2 miles long by U miles wide. 



The Lin of Cree should be opened up. Lord Galloway has the right of 

 fishing on one side and Lord Ailsa and Mr. Wason on the other side. 



George F. Hopkinson {recalled). — Thinks the fish might go down to the 

 sea as diseased kelts and get partly cured, and go up again with the sea lice on 

 them, and yet only partly cured. This may account for the fish he caught, 

 fresh from the sea, with both the disease and sea lice on them. 



County Hotel, Lancaster, Saturday, April 24th, 1880. 



Present : 



Spencer Walpole and Archibald Young, Esquires. 



William Foster, water bailiff, Lune Fishery district.— Has been so about 

 two years. His district extends from Newbiggen to Watermeetings, a distance 



