28 SALMON FISHERIES 



their investigation upon 545 pages/ with a Report 

 appended to the same of 36 pages, and it is from the 

 latter Report that we have copied a few extracts, in 

 order to show how inefficiently the Fishery Act of 1861 

 carried out their recommendations and intentions. 



From the reliable information we have before us it 

 will be clearly seen that the value of our fisheries has 

 been so much damaged by the various mill dams all 

 over the country, that some remedy is absolutely 

 necessary to prevent the annihilation of salmon alto- 

 gether. For example, nothing would be more 

 just than some enactment to compel millers 

 most of whom have gained their rights at the expense 

 of the public interest to give up part of the water 

 now used in milling for the purpose of enabling a 

 passage to be made for fish, and this may be done 

 either by securing au alternate use of the water by 

 day and night, or in some equable manner apportion- 

 ing the water for some days in each week, so as to 

 combine both interests without seriously injuring 

 either. 



The object therefore of the present Statement is to 

 enable all Members of Parliament and others con- 

 nected with the Salmon Fisheries to have a correct 

 insight into the actual requirements of the public right 

 to enforce the cultivation, protection, and natural 

 capabilities of the various rivers for producing a 

 valuable supply of food, and to shew the unfairness 

 of enactments which allow the public interest at Iaro-e 

 to be severely damaged for the benefit of a few indi- 

 viduals. 



