458 REPORT — 1856. 



it being the ova of the salmon, grilse, and bull trout, in about equal portions, 

 and the whole being not less than 50,000. The ponds being in readiness, it 

 was conveyed on the 19th of March to Kelso, in boxes filled with fine 

 gravel or sand in a damp state, and was deposited in the breeding boxes the 

 same day, where it remained till the 11th of April, when the young were 

 first observed to be bursting the shell or covering of the ova. Upon exa- 

 mining the gravel in the boxes on the 2nd of ^lay, I found that all the fish were 

 hatched, and only those remained which had become addled. Since that 

 time most of the fry left the hatching boxes, and fell back into the aqueduct, 

 from which most of them have passed into the receiving pond, where they 

 now remain. They have as yet received no artificial food, but they appear 

 quite healthy, and are growing as well as could be desired. There is a 

 great difference in the size and appearance of them : the largest are about 

 1^ inch long, while some of them are not over half the size, and the colour 

 of some is much lighter than of others,which no doubt arises from the different 

 kinds of ova which were placed there." 



The fishing season in the Tay is now closed for this year, and none of the 

 ringed grilse have been recovered ; but INIr. Buist writes to me, — " Since I 

 last wrote (7th August) several grilse with the tail mark have been taken, 

 and a number of salmon have been taken during the season with last year's 

 grilse mark upon them. The two last taken were 13 and 19^ lbs." Next 

 season, therefore, our ringed fry may yet appear as salmon, although they 

 have not been captured this year in their grilse state. " Our young brood 

 are thriving well ; but as in former cases, they are already showing a great 

 disparity in size." 



Provisional Report on the progress of a Committee appointed at the 

 Meeting in Glasgoiv, September 1855, to consider the question of 

 the Measurement of Ships for Tonnage, consisting of the following 

 Gentlemen: — Mr. J. R. Napier, Mr. John Wood, Mr. Allan 

 GiLMORE, Mr. Charles Atherton, Mr. James Peake, and 

 Mr. Andrew Henderson (Reporter). 



As the first-named Member of the Committee on Tonnage Measurement, 

 it becomes my duty to report progress in the matters referred to us, and in 

 so doing, I beg to premise my report with the remark, that I was induced to 

 propose this Committee from having had the honour of reading a paper on 

 Ocean Steamers, Clipper Ships, and their descriptive measurement, to the 

 Association at their iNIeeting at Liverpool (vide page 152 to 156 of Report, 

 1854). While at Glasgow, in 1855, a new shipping bill having come into 

 operation, 1 found that the extreme interest then publicly taken in the general 

 question of Government interference in shipping affairs seemed to render 

 this Committee expedient. 



The serious and important character of the subject thereby involved, and 

 the consequent responsibility imposed on all individuals who may take a 

 prominent part in this matter, have operated as an obstacle to the immediate 

 establishment and working operation of this Committee. In the first place, 

 I beg to notice that the subject of Tonnage Registration, as connected with 

 our national statistics of shipping, had been brought to the notice of the 

 public, both at the Institution of Civil Engineers by myself, in 1853, and at 

 the Society of Arts, by Mr. Charles Atherton, in a manner which has fully 



