98 SCOTCH SALMON AND SCOTCH LAW. 



opinion regarding what is for the public good, we 

 should not listen only to one side of the question. A 

 wrathful " fresh- water proprietor" is not a safe guide, 

 any more than a stake-net owner, who, planting his 

 murderous engine at the mouth of a salmon river, pro- 

 fesses his ability to supply us with salmon to our heart's 

 content. We are in more trustworthy hands when 

 availing ourselves of the ample experience of the Duke 

 of Richmond. His Grace being proprietor both of sea 

 and river fishings, and having been induced to try 

 which mode of fishing is most remunerative, has deli- 

 berately removed stake and bag nets, with two excep- 

 tions. We state the result as given by his Grace, 

 when under examination as a witness on the Tweed 

 Fisheries Bill. 



" I am the proprietor of salmon-fisheries in the Spey. 

 They extend about nine miles and a half. I have also 

 estates upon the breeding-grounds. I have likewise 

 several miles of shore-fishings near the mouth of the 

 Spey. They were let in 1848 for seven years ; but the 

 tenant asked to be relieved from the lease, and I com- 

 plied with his request. I suppose he did not find them 

 answer his purpose. I advertised them in the ' Times' 

 and other papers, but nobody would take them. Prior 

 to that they had been rather severely fished. There 

 were sixteen stake and bag nets east and west the 

 mouth of the river. I have still a stake-net at Port- 

 Gordon, and another elsewhere, but all the others have 

 been removed. My object in taking them away was to 

 allow the fish to enter the river from the sea, because 

 I had found that the nets frightened them when they 

 attempted to enter the river, and drove them again to 

 sea. I have paid attention to the breeding of salmon. 

 The breeding depends upon the existence of fish in the 

 river, and the protection given to smolts. You cannot 

 have any quantity of fish in a river unless you allow 

 them to go up from the sea ; and if it can be shown 

 that the few stake-nets which still exist are injurious 



