Defects in the Existing Acts. 291 



measures adopted by Parliament in 1861, in 1865, 

 and in 1873, to ensure a fairer distribution of fish, 

 have not, in all cases, led to satisfactory results 

 among the upper proprietors." In fact, the owners 

 in the upper waters are still very much what Max- 

 well of Summertrees, in ' Eedgauntlet,' styled them 

 " a sort of clocking-hens, to hatch the fish that 

 folk below them are to catch and eat." Alike, then, 

 on grounds of policy and equity, it is desirable that 

 their grievances be removed. 



It is undoubtedly true, as the lessees of the lower 

 fisheries are never weary of saying, that salmon 

 taken near the sea are most fit for the food of man, 

 and that it is there the principal fisheries must be. 

 But the upper owners never asked for an equal 

 share with the lower. What they chiefly want, as 

 pointed out by Mr Eussel twenty years ago, " is 

 not fish, but fishing not gain, but sport. And the 

 number of fish sufficient for sport, compared with 

 what is necessary for profit, is utterly insignificant." 



If the rights of these proprietors receive such 

 scanty recognition, where shall the privileges of 

 the sportsman angler appear ? Under existing laws 

 the angler is virtually excluded. This is unwisely 

 done. Legitimate rod-fishing, under proper regula- 

 tions, never yet injured a stream; and were some 

 sections of the upper waters thrown open to the 

 "honest" angler at a time when fish are in season, 



