400 AN ANGLER'S RAMBLES 



sider this a question of their own, and that I shall be held pre- 

 suming when I offer even a suggestion on the matter. To 

 recommend the transference of their claims into the hands of a 

 body of license-holders, would, not very long ago, have been 

 looked upon as a piece of unwarrantable impertinence. I am 

 greatly mistaken, however, if, so far as our Border rivers are 

 concerned, there is not a new light breaking in on the subject ; 

 if, in fact, the proprietors of trout-fishings are not beginning to 

 see that it would be for their own interest to shift the custodier- 

 ship of their waters from the hands of poachers to the more 

 honest and considerate keeping of the angling public. Most 

 certainly they have nothing to dread, and much to hope for, 

 from the organization of a well-ordered trouting license system, 

 which guarantees to the party availing himself of it a certain 

 amount of recreation, in lieu of a fixed sum. Such a system, 

 judiciously carried out, gives to them advantages, in the shape 

 of protection, which more than make amends for their temporary 

 concessions. To those proprietors of Tweedside who possess 

 salmon as well as trout-fishings, the adoption of the trouting- 

 license would, as I have said, be an immense boon. It would 

 not only assist protection by means of its proceeds, but it would 

 help greatly to enfeeble, if not to lay prostrate altogether, the 

 spirit of poaching on Tweedside. On these grounds it is, as a 

 measure both remunerative and reformatory, that I urge its 

 speedy adoption. 



CONCLUSION. 



IN the preceding sketches, the bulk of vduch relate to my 

 juvenile experiences as a trout-fisher, I have had occasion, in 

 connexion with my trips to St. Mary'* Loch, and other fishing 

 excursions, to introduce the names of several of my old com- 



