SELECT COMMITTEES. 129 



The bill, as amended by the Select Committee, differs 

 in most important respects from that brought in by the 

 Lord Advocate. At first the preamble ran thus : 



" Whereas it is expedient that the Acts relating to 

 the Salmon-Fisheries in Scotland, and on the coasts or 

 shores of the Solway Firth, should be consolidated and 

 amended, and that further provision be made for the 

 abolition of cruives and fixed nets, and engines in rivers 

 and in the sea, the regulation of fisheries, the removal 

 of obstructions, and the prevention of illegal fishing : 

 be it enacted," &c. 



The amended preamble proposes that " further pro- 

 vision be made in regard to cruives, and fixed nets, and 

 engines in rivers and estuaries., and in the sea." The 

 introduction of the word estuaries is a manifest improve- 

 ment ; but the omission of the word abolition shows that 

 Government was defeated, and that the stake-net pro- 

 prietors triumphed, in defiance of the recommendation 

 of Select Committees of both Houses of Parliament, and 

 of the Royal Commission for inquiring into the Salmon- 

 Fisheries of England and Wales. As the withdrawal 

 of the bill affords the opportunity of calmly considering 

 its provisions, we shall endeavour to give an impartial 

 resume of the pros and cons in regard to those which 

 admit of debate. 



We must introduce our readers into the troubled 

 waters of the contested portions of the Lord Advocate's 

 bill, the foremost, of course, being that regarding stake- 

 nets. What can be said in their favour ? Mr Hector, 

 St Cyrus, Montrose, and tenant of salmon-fishings in 

 Scotland and Ireland, is strong upon the superiority of 

 sea-caught salmon over those caught in rivers.* " For 

 many years I had the largest retail trade in salmon in 

 the city of Aberdeen. My supply was, for some time, 

 chiefly from the river Dee ; but, from repeated com- 

 plaints of the softness of river fish, I had to bring sea- 

 salmon from Montrose Bay to Aberdeen, to meet the 



* * Remarks on the Salmon-Fishings of Scotland. ' 



I 



