Salmon of Thames and Stour (Kent). 107 



Stour. Suffice to say that from 1861-62 onwards the 

 " Thames Angling Preservation Society," and from 1866 the 

 " Association for Preservation of Salmon in the Medway," and 

 the (Canterbury) " Stour Fishery Protection Association," have 

 each assiduously endeavoured to stock the rivers above- 

 mentioned with salmon and various species of trout. 



The late Frank Bucklaud, who took an active interest in tho 

 matter, was so sanguine of success accompanying their efforts 

 that at one meeting he said : " So sure as I am standing here, 

 at no distant day salmon will come up the Thames as abun- 

 dantly as ever they did " in the good old times. Over 30 years 

 have passed since then, with unceasing efforts on the part of 

 the above societies towards the maintaining young sal monoids 

 in their hatcheries and preserves ; but the results we fear have 

 not come up to expectancy. Notwithstanding, in midsummer, 

 1899, again a movement has arisen culminating in the instal- 

 lation of the " Thames Salmon Association." Whether their 

 experiments will be more successful remains for time to prove. 



It may be remarked that at the starting of this last asso- 

 ciation there was not complete unanimity. Some considered 

 the river still unfit for salmon ; others viewed the subject with 

 a tone of askance, hinting that ulteriorly the public rights of 

 fishing might be interfered with. Indeed, already in 1868, 

 discussion arose between the Canterbury Town Council and the 

 Stour Fishery Association on this very point. Hence the words 

 accidentally dropped by Buckland (1866), "then will arise the 

 question as to whom the right of fishery belongs," were more 

 prophetic than he tTien anticipated. 



Whatsoever the outcome of the above, it may pretty surely 

 be affirmed that no Thames Estuarine Salmon Fishery has 

 existed during the 19th century.* There is reliable evidence 

 extant that long prior to the river's pollution and introduction 

 of locks and weirs namely, about 1750 there had begun to 



* In Sect. III. we have already drawn attention to the salmon and general fishery 

 in the Hadleigh Ray from the 13th century onwards. 



