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classes, has been so far acknowledged, and so far fulfilled for 

 Scotland, that a Board many years ago was established in Edin- 

 burgh for the " encouragement and better regulation " of Herring 

 Fisheries, by enforcing the provisions of various Acts, which fix 

 an annual and weekly close-time, specify the size of the meshes of 

 nets, and require registration of boats. The Act of Parliament 

 also places at the service of that Board a gunboat, with a crew 

 and an officer of the Navy, to assist the Board in the execution of 

 its duties. In connection with this object, offices are provided in 

 a Government building in Edinburgh, with a secretary, two clerks, 

 two general superintendents, and upwards of thirty local inspectors. 

 By establishing such a department, Government and Parliament 

 have acknowledged the obligation to look after and regulate our 

 Scotch Herring Fisheries. Are Salmon Fisheries not equally 

 entitled to State protection ? Of late years, Government and 

 Parliament have been extending protection to other wild animals 

 of very inferior importance, such as crabs, mussels, oysters, sea- 

 fowl, and land birds, fixing a close-time for each, imposing a 

 penalty on offenders, and authorising the Procurator-fiscal to 

 prosecute, at the public expense. Looking to these facts, why 

 in the case of salmon should the State throw on individuals 

 the duty and expense of prosecuting persons who violate the pro- 

 visions which the State chooses to enact ? Salmon, whether in the 

 sea or in rivers, are no more private property than herrings. 

 They are the property of the Crown, and no riparian proprietor, 

 either on our rivers or on the sea-coast, can fish for salmon except 

 he can show a grant or a lease from the Crown. But the Crown 

 does not thereby divest itself of the obligation to preserve from 

 extermination, what it has leased or what it keeps in its own 

 hands in trust for the nation. 



On these grounds, it is hoped that Government and Parliament 

 will feel it to be a duty to devise better means of protecting salmon 

 in Scotland than at present exist ; and for this an opportunity is 

 afforded by the fact of there being already in Edinburgh a Board 

 of Fishery Commissioners, occupying apartments in a Government 

 building, where there is sufficient space for an additional office 

 applicable to Salmon Fisheries. 



