148 APPENDIX. 



the Irish Salmon-fisheries can be instanced in Scot- 

 land or anywhere else — it has been gradual, uniform 

 and progressive since 1842. 



The present exhaustion of the Irish Salmon-fish- 

 eries, and their prospects for the future, may be ex- 

 emplified by some statistical facts connected with 

 this river. The salmon that go up to spawn in the 

 Liffey, can be counted with considerable accuracy in 

 passing over the Salmon Leap at Leixlip. The 

 salmon, to surmount that fall, must leap perpendicu- 

 larly out of the water about ten feet. The period 

 of the day during which they leap, is limited, and it 

 is also only during two or three days after each flood 

 that they leap. Some years ago I had a registry 

 kept of the number that passed up, and I have 

 counted myself, with some friends, as many as 60 

 pass over in one afternoon ; but 1 do not think that 

 20 salmon have passed over during the present sea- 

 son, and the proportion to former years, I should 

 say, was about as one to 50. It would, therefore, be 

 a manifest absurdity to expect anything but a con- 

 tinued diminution of the supply. 



A more efficient Government control will be the 

 next requisite in the amendment and consolidation of 

 the law. The principle of non-interference has been 

 tried, and has lamentably failed ; it was suggested 

 by those, who forgot, that pubhc rights of fishing ob- 

 tain largely in Ireland, It may be said that there 

 is at present no control at all, and the acting Com- 

 missioners have publicly stated in their Report, th( 



