SCOTLAND 153 



in the sport. The cause he believes to be netting on 

 the TJEITH, flowing from the loch to the Forth. 

 Lord fisher's opinion is confirmed by statements 

 from other sources. Mr. J. B. Baillie Hamilton of 

 Cambusmore, a very expert angler, writes : 



" I am a considerable proprietor of salmon fishings 

 on the Teith, and have been a member of the Forth 

 District Fishery Board for thirty years. Twenty 

 years ago my average catch to my own rod was 

 from twenty to thirty spring salmon, and double that 

 number in autumn, besides all the fish that many 

 friends got. Now the number is reduced to, say, 

 three fish in spring, and, say, ten in autumn. Our 

 Fishery Board joined with the Tay Board three years 

 ago, and got a decision in the House of Lords that 

 the hang or drift nets used in the Forth were illegal. 

 Since then the Board have been busy interdicting 

 the fishing by those nets, and we are gradually get- 

 ting the better of them ; but it is difficult work. 

 The upper proprietors have also purchased, at 

 great cost, the cruives and fishings of Craigforth, 

 and have thrown them open for the free passage of 

 fish at all times. This must benefit the fishings." 



Colonel Robertson, C.B., Callander, who has been 

 familiar with the Teith for thirty years, writes : 



" There is a terrible falling-off in the stock, and 

 the river is scarcely worth fishing now. I attribute 

 this to the nets in the Firth of Forth and in the 

 river below Stirling. The state of affairs is simply 

 disgraceful. The Teith is naturally one of the 

 finest salmon rivers in Great Britain. It has 



