I 2 SALMON FISHERIES 



was discovered, and has gradually superseded water 

 power, which in consequence by comparison has be- 

 come so far depreciated that at the present time un- 

 appropriated waterfalls are of little or no value, owing 

 to the great expense of erecting wheels, goits, dams, 

 etc., and the loss sustained by the great irregularity 

 in the supply of water, when compared with that ob- 

 tained by the use of a steam engine ; so that however 

 valuable water power may have been in the last cen- 

 tury, steam power has become much more valuable 

 and available as a substitute in our day. We think 

 it could be shown that some of our salmon rivers 

 would now be more valuable by the substitution of 

 steam and their restoration to the original purposes 

 of the salmon fisheries. 



We may here make a comparison between two ad- 

 joining rivers : the Wye has no weirs upon it and 

 has an area of about 600 square miles of salmon 

 breeding ground. The Teme has an area of 625 

 square miles from which the salmon are shut out by 

 twenty- four mill weirs, the water power of which may 

 be taken at 50 each, or 1,200 a-year. There is no 

 doubt that the salmon from the Wye is of double the 

 value as a fishery, when compared with the rents 

 of the water power on the Teme. 



The strongest evidence we have on record to prove 

 the value of our salmon rivers is to be found in the 

 stringent character of the ancient statutes for their 

 protection. The water of many of these rivers is as 

 pure at the present time as it was centuries ago, and 

 would no doubt become equally valuable in the pro- 

 duction of food, if cultivated, assuming that these 

 obstructions could be removed or abated by the sub- 

 stitution of steam, or by the erection of proper fish 

 passes over them, with some equable division of the 

 water, by allowing the salmon to have it during the 

 night and the millers during the day. 



