12 THE BORDER ANGLER. 



November. They also agreed to the abolition of stell 

 and all other fixed nets, to a slight extension of the 

 weekly close-time, to a prohibition of the use of leis- 

 ters under all circumstances, and to a prohibition of 

 killing kelts or other foul fish. The Marquis of West- 

 minster was Chairman of the House of Lords' Com- 

 mittee on the Bill, and a number of the witnesses 

 were re-examined before them. The Lords' Commit- 

 tee agreed in finding the preamble of the Bill proved, 

 altering, however, the period for closing the net-fish- 

 ings from the 14th of September to the 30th of that 

 month ; but as they neglected to make a similar ex- 

 tension of the time allowed for rod-fishing, they 

 accidentally, we believe defrauded the anglers of the 

 additional week of grace which the Commons' Com- 

 mittee had given them, and actually reduced the period 

 of exclusive rod-fishing to a fortnight, instead of the 

 three weeks that had been allowed under the old law. 

 These, then, are the prominent enactments of the 

 new Tweed Fisheries Act. The annual close-time for 

 net-fishing now extends from the 1st of October to the 

 1st of March, a fortnight having been added to each 

 end of it. The rod-fishing close-time extends from the 

 15th of October to the 1st of March. Although there 

 are fish ready to spawn before the 1st of October, and 

 some which have not spawned even at the 1st of 

 March, the legal destruction of salmon at the point of 

 breeding will now be very small so that the Tweed 

 fishers will be freed from the disgrace of doing what 

 was really poachers' work. A clause also prohibits the 

 killing of foul fish ; but we fancy it will only be en- 

 forced against the killing of kelts and baggots in the 



