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Boards, and which, as already mentioned, prevented the 
formation of no more than about 20, out of the 105 re- 
quired, the practical question now is, what can be thought 
of, as likely to succeed in place of these Boards ? 
The chief suggestion made in the Report of the Com- 
missioners appointed by Lord Aberdare was, that where 
in any district a Board has not been constituted, a Fishery 
Inspector, nominated by the Secretary of State for the 
Home Department, should exercise all the powers of 
a Board. 
I failed to see how this plan would work. The arrange- 
ment which I suggested, and which I may now briefly 
sketch, was as follows :— 
ist. To allow no persons to fish for salmon in Scotland, 
without taking out a Licence—the amount of the dues 
to be fixed by the Secretary of State for the Home 
Department. 
2nd. To have in districts embracing one or more 
salmon rivers, a Board, consisting, as in England, partly 
of proprietors and partly of lessees of salmon fishings ; 
the proprietors who are to be members of the Board, 
to be selected by a committee, consisting in each county, 
of the Lord Lieutenant, the Convenor of the County, 
and the Sheriff ;—the lessees of fishings who are to be 
members of the Board, to be selected at a meeting of 
persons holding Licences, called publicly by the Sheriff; 
and the Chairman to be elected by the Board—either from 
among their own number or otherwise—the election being 
yearly. 
3rd. With regard to expenses, these are of three classes : 
Ist, salaries of officials to assist in the management ; 2nd, 
wages of water bailiffs ; and 3rd, cost of prosecutions. 
The first two classes of expenses would be defrayed 
