44 THE SALMON FISHERIES. 
by their absence might have been of great present worth 
—possibly equalling if not excelling invalue the mills which 
have supplanted them. But we must deal with the 
question as it is, and not as it might have been: the weirs 
have acquired a right to exist, and we have to see how far 
their interests can be reconciled with those of the fisheries. 
