Defects in the Existing Acts. 293 



and obstructive weirs. Each alone is bad enough, 

 but it is when in combination that their influence 

 is most pernicious. Pollutions poison the river ; 

 weirs not only interfere with the free passage of 

 the fish, but obstruct the natural flow of the water, 

 which might have diminished the effects of the 

 poison it contains. Prior to the passing of the 

 Elvers Pollution Act of 1876, manufacturers and 

 burgh commissioners alike those with chemicals, 

 these with sewage scrupled not to turn what 

 should have been, and had been, gladdening and 

 life-giving streams, into very rivers of death. 

 Though the evil has to some extent been miti- 

 gated, it has not yet by any means ceased. The 

 Inspectors, in the report from which I have already 

 quoted, " find it to be their duty to point out that 

 the multiplication of salmon is seriously affected 

 by pollution," and that, " in very few cases have 

 steps been taken to render pollution harmless;" 

 while Mr Young, the Inspector of Salmon-Fisheries 

 for Scotland, is of opinion that " it is high time that 

 stringent measures were taken to check the progress 

 of pollution, for in one way, at least, the public 

 health and the preservation of salmon are im- 

 mediately connected." Although salmon, in their 

 natural desire to reach the spawning-grounds in the 

 upper reaches of a river, often " run the gauntlet " of 

 chemical refuse, sewage, and other abominations at 



