SALMON - 247 



seen, neither of these measures has been able to counterbalance 

 the exigencies of the altered conditions of netting and angling. 



For some years the salmon held their own in face of 

 the annually rising demands made on them, both upper and 

 lower proprietors having but little to grumble at ; then as the 

 enjoyment to be got out of salmon angling became more widely 

 appreciated, while the access to Scotch rivers was made more 

 easy, so by degrees arose an ever-growing demand for angling 

 waters, until the upper proprietors of rivers whose fishings 

 formerly let for small sums began to wake up to the fact that 

 the angling tenancies could be made to play an important part 

 in the value of their rent rolls. 



This season four friends of mine paid one thousand pounds 

 for the fishing of a well-known stretch of water for rather less 

 than three months of the spring. In 1836 the angling on the 

 same water could have been had for one hundred pounds, and, 

 indeed, it may be doubted if it would have fetched so much. 



To quote one more case of quite recent date, the salmon 

 fishing on the Lower Test ten years ago was let for fifty pounds, 

 but it now realizes one thousand pounds, and similar instances 

 could be indefinitely multiplied. When, therefore, the closely 

 scientific netting in both sea and river, in conjunction with the 

 vast augmentation in the number of netting stations, began at 

 length to tell upon the multitudes of the salmon, the upper pro- 

 prietors naturally commenced to cry out at the few fish that 

 found their way to them, for this meant a loss of rental, as it 

 was self-evident the high prices paid by anglers would not be 

 given if sport fell off each year. 



Now certainly the upper proprietors appear to be entitled 

 to have plenty of fresh-run fish in their fisheries from the very 

 day the nets begin to work, for first and foremost they own the 

 whole of the salmon breeding grounds, and, during their stay 

 in the river, they protect them from poachers ; also they throw 

 their segis over the whole mass of the baby salmon. It is true 

 in some rivers the upper proprietors are helped in this work of 



