cannot, an those of Scotland have been hitherto, be- 

 so easily evaded. And surely, the proper course for 

 those to pursue who wish to p-o mote stake-net fish- 

 ing-, would be to propose it for general adoption 

 throughout the United Kingdom ; for, if the argu- 

 ment which they draw from the immense benefit the 

 public would derive from a stake-net fishery esta- 

 blished in Scotland, is of any weight, it would be- 

 come infinitely stronger, when applied to all the 

 rivers of the three kingdoms. 



As, however, every one knows the difficulty 

 that is produced by the differences already exist- 

 ing between the Scotch and English Statute books, 

 I humbly deprecate any more legislation for Scot- 

 land, which, by rendering a practice legal in one 

 country that has been always regarded as ille- 

 gal in the other, would draw that line of distinction 

 still stronger : and I shall beg leave to quote a 

 passage from the Author of the Pamphlet, although 

 against himself. " The best and surest chance of 

 legislating, with advantage to the public, is to 

 introduce one broad and uniform system." If 

 this be true, the broadest system is surely that 

 which prevails through the whole of the empire, 

 only with the exception of certain illegal practices 

 which have too long been permitted in certain rivers 

 in Scotland. And thus, by allowing the existing 

 laws to remain in principle the same, and merely 

 making such alterations as may be found neces- 

 sary as the occasion may shew, we shall have ob- 



