244 THE SALMON 



(for which, as in England, there is no weekly close 

 time) is from 6 a.m. on Saturday to 6 a.m. on 

 Monday following. Further regulations in force in 

 Ireland upon this matter are that no fish of the 

 salmon kind may be taken on the sea-coast, in any 

 estuary, in any river, or in the tide-way from Sep- 

 tember i to January 31, nor in any lake or river 

 above the tide- way between September 18 and the 

 last day of February. Owners, however, of fishing 

 weirs held under grant, charter, prescription, or Act 

 of Parliament above the tide-way, within two miles 

 of where the tide ceases to ebb and flow, if no other 

 fishing weir is interposed between them and the 

 tide-way, may use them for catching salmon in 

 February. 



The inspectors of Irish fisheries have similar 

 powers to the Fishery Board of Scotland for the 

 alteration of the close time in rivers. 



Fixed Engines. — The use and abuse of what are 

 termed fixed engines, i.e. any stationary contrivance 

 for catching salmon or other fish, seems to be of very 

 early date, and we find many laws passed for their 

 suppression. They were in use in the form of 

 ' kiddels and wears ' in the time of King John, for they 

 are referred to in Magna Charta as then existing in 

 the Thames ; while in a later statute we are told that 



