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besides the Chairman. With regard to a Chairman, he is 

 not elected by the members of the Board, as is usually 

 the case. The Act appoints the proprietor of largest 

 fishery rental in the district to be Chairman, without 

 reference to his having any other qualification ; and he has 

 both a deliberative and a casting vote. 



The result of such an arrangement was to throw the 

 whole power of the Board into the hands of the lower 

 proprietors, inasmuch as the Chairman, on account of his 

 high rental qualification, is almost always connected with 

 the lower part of the river. 



The consequence is, that the upper proprietors, seeing 

 that they have no influence in directing the action of the 

 Board, decline in most districts to become members, or at 

 all events to attend the Board meetings. 



Another objection to the Boards is the expense to 

 which members would be subjected, by having to assess 

 themselves and other fishery proprietors, to defray the 

 costs of prosecutions, to pay the wages of water-bailiffs, 

 and to pay the salaries of officials, the Act declaring 

 that all these expenses fall on the Boards ; and in many 

 districts, the fishery rents are not sufficient to meet these 

 expenses. 



It was likewise felt to be an invidious and odious duty 

 to throw on proprietors the institution of prosecutions for 

 the imposition of fines and imprisonment. 



Another serious difficulty which militates against the 

 practicability of these Boards, is the scanty number of 

 resident proprietors in many of the northern and midland 

 counties of Scotland, and the great distance of their 

 dwellings from one another, rendering attendance at 

 meetings almost impossible. 



These being some of the objections to the proposed 



