SOD SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 



in which the law was carried out, as well as of collecting 

 all available statistics which could throw any light on the 

 working of the law, or suggest any improvement in the 

 management of the fisheries, the whole results of their 

 inquiries to be embodied annually in a report to be sup- 

 plied to the Home Office, and which afterwards, in the 

 form of a Blue Book, becomes accessible to the public 

 generally. It is satisfactory to be at length able to record 

 that Scotland has been placed on the same footing as her 

 sister countries in this respect by the Fishery Board (Scot- 

 land) Act of 1882, and the newly-appointed Inspector, 

 Mr. Archibald Young, Advocate, formerly Commissioner 

 of Scotch Salmon Fisheries, than whom a more fitting 

 selection could not have been made, has already given 

 satisfactory evidence of his existence by the promulgation 

 of a series of questions relating to the working of the law 

 of salmon fishing, and who is at this moment engaged on 

 a tour of inspection of the various districts, to obtain 

 answers to these questions, and confer with the district 

 boards on the subject. It is confidently to be hoped that 

 as soon as the beneficial effects of the existence of this 

 official have had time to be felt, the salmon fishings of 

 Scotland will show a rate of progress somewhat more in 

 accordance with that which the statistics of England and 

 Ireland are able to set forth. In England, whose salmon 

 fishings are even now only a third of the value of those in 

 Scotland, inspectors were appointed by the Act of 1861. 

 In 1863 the fishings were valued at 15,000, in 1865 at 

 30,000, and now (see Report of 1880) they have risen to 

 100,000 per annum. In Ireland, whose fisheries are now 

 rather more valuable than those of Scotland, though at one 

 time there was good reason to believe that they were much 

 less so, inspectors were appointed in 1863. It is not easy 



