SALMON LEGISLATION. 173 



its consideration is disembarrassed from its surroundings, 

 and is left standing alone, all its ugly companions abo- 

 lished and gone. All parties interested, and the public 

 more than any party, are under no light debt to the Lord 

 Advocate for pulling through, amid so many difficulties, 

 and the distracting clamour of conflicting interests, the 

 only general Salmon Fishery Act for Scotland which had 

 been passed for more than thirty years, though during 

 that period there had been pretty nearly thirty attempts. 

 For England, a very important Act was passed in 

 the same year (1861) that the first Bill for Scotland 

 was defeated, the better and earlier success of the 

 attempt for England being ascribable mainly to the fact 

 of the evils in that country having become greater and 

 more obvious. Indeed, matters in England had arrived 

 at such a stage that legislation had to be directed rather 

 to restoration than preservation. Accordingly, a large 

 portion of the English Act refers to the removal or 

 modification of the evils caused by pollutions and ob- 

 structions. The substance of the clauses as to pollution 

 is simply the prohibition of "putting into any waters 

 containing salmon any liquid or solid matter to such an 

 extent as to cause the waters to poison or kill fish," un- 

 less the offender can show that he has "used the best 

 practicable means within a reasonable cost to render 

 harmless the said liquid or solid matter." The pro- 

 visions as to the removal or lessening of obstructions, 

 and also as to the regulation of " fishing rivers," are too 

 numerous, various, and minute to be here stated. The 

 annual close-time is fixed to extend from the 1st Sep- 

 tember to the 1st February, being 153 days, or fifteen 



