ENGLAND AND WALES 245 



tracts of pasture land in the upper parts of the 

 watersheds, together with the wholesale appropria- 

 tion of the springs in the hills and elsewhere by 

 a Water Company, has reduced the spawning area. 

 In dry seasons fish cannot easily reach the beds. 

 Rivers and burns that ran freely all the year three 

 or four decades ago have hardly any water at the 

 very time when the salmon should be there. What 

 fish do reach a good redd deposit their spawn only 

 to find it washed away by a sudden and over- 

 whelming spate. Until there is a fair waterway 

 from the sea to the higher reaches, with measures 

 for protection of the fish when they get there, the 

 troubles of the Tyne will remain. The Tyne Con- 

 servancy Board, of which I am a member, have had 

 all these matters under consideration, and have dealt 

 with poaching and pollution as far as their limited 

 powers permit ; but as long as the Fisheries Acts re- 

 main in their present confused state not much good 

 will be done. Boards should have more power to 

 deal with special local conditions." 



The WEAR runs through a district in which there 

 are many collieries and other works. It is much 

 polluted, and, as the industrial enterprises employ 

 thousands of people, it is difficult to cope with the 

 trouble. Still, Colonel T. C. M'Kenzie, Chairman 

 of the Fishery Board, thinks that there is no falling- 

 ofF, but rather an improvement, in the stock of fish, 

 which are mainly bull-trout and brown trout. Fresh 

 blood is not infrequently introduced. Salmon have 

 become comparatively rare. 



