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besides the Chairman. With regard to a Chairman, he is 
not elected by the members of the Board, as is usually 
the case. The Act appoints the proprietor of largest 
fishery rental in the district to be Chairman, wethout 
reference to his having any other qualification ; and he has 
both a deliberative and a casting vote. 
The result of such an arrangement was to throw the 
whole power of the Board into the hands of the lower 
proprietors, inasmuch as the Chairman, on account of his 
high rental qualification, is almost always connected with 
the lower part of the river. 
The consequence is, that the upper proprietors, seeing 
that they have no influence in directing the action of the 
Board, decline in most districts to become members, or at 
all events to attend the Board meetings. 
Another objection to the Boards is the expense to 
which members would be subjected, by having to assess 
themselves and other fishery proprietors, to defray the 
costs of prosecutions, to pay the wages of water-bailiffs, 
and to pay the salaries of officials,—the Act declaring 
that all these expenses fall on the Boards ; and in many 
districts, the fishery rents are not sufficient to meet these 
expenses. 
It was likewise felt to be an invidious and odious duty 
to throw on proprietors the institution of prosecutions for 
the imposition of fines and imprisonment. 
Another serious difficulty which militates against the 
practicability of these Boards, is the scanty number of 
resident proprietors in many of the northern and midland 
counties of Scotland, and the great distance of their 
dwellings from one another, rendering attendance at 
meetings almost impossible. 
These being some of the objections to the proposed 
