SALMON FISHING 



grows to a great size, and shows high sporting 

 qualities." 



Lord Desborough, Chairman of the Thames 

 Salmon Association, thinks that the adversity from 

 which the river began to suffer many years ago was 

 other than that stated by Mr. Boulton. He writes : 



"The return to Teddington of the smelt, an 

 estuarine fish, was the great encouragement we had 

 for the salmon restoration experiment. Smelts were 

 caught in large numbers at Richmond and Tedding- 

 ton just before we began. In a spate, salmon could 

 have passed up the Thames 1 weirs easily enough. 

 I agree with Archdeacon Venables that it was 

 chemical refuse, chiefly from gas works, that killed 

 the fish in the estuary. The estuary is now much 

 improved in that respect. Fresh- water fish go much 

 farther down, and sea fish higher up, than was the 

 case some years ago. I went into the matter some- 

 what fully before we began ; also into the question 

 of the aeration of the water, of which, in connection 

 with the sewage outfalls, Dr. Clowes of the London 

 County Council keeps useful charts." 



Whether it is Mr. Boulton or Lord Desborough 

 who is right as to what happened long ago, all's well 

 that promises to end so well as the restocking of the 

 purified Thames. 



