DECAY OF SALMON. 113 



themselves (with the exception of two or three of the 

 smaller p]'opri(.^tors) to atop fishing, as formerly, on the 

 26th of August, though leaving rod-fishing to continue 

 till 14th September. This voluntary reform or suspen- 

 sion of the law continued, with improving fisheries and 

 rising rents, till 1855, when one of the upper proprietors 

 broke up the agreement, on the ground that the re 

 cusancy of some of the lowest proprietors was still per- 

 sisted in. The law of 1828 then resumed its sway, and 

 the dechne, arrested by the suspension of the law, re- 

 sumed also. In 1858, the great majority of the pro- 

 prietors united in going to Parliament for a local Act, 

 and obtained one, stopping the net-fishing on the 26 th 

 August, and extending the privileges of the rod-fisheries. 

 Immediately, the rent once more began to rise — having 

 been less than £8000 when the former law was in opera- 

 tion, it rose to nearly £13,000 in 1859, and is now 

 above £15,000. Thus, when looked at below the surface, 

 even the apparently exceptional case of the Tay goes to 

 prove the fact of an enormous decrease having taken 

 place in the annual supply of salmon, and, moreover, 

 the facts that that decrease was caused mainly by bad 

 laws, and can be to a large extent cured by good. 



Having seen, as closely and as precisely as the 

 scarcity of materials will permit, and as is necessary for 

 present purposes, what have been the periods and what 

 the extent of the decrease, we come next to the causes 

 actual and alleged, and after that shall come to the cures 

 attempted and desirable. For it is a notable feature in 

 the question, that, to a great extent, the cures do not 

 consist in the removal of the causes. Some of the 



H 



