528 SALMON LEGISLATION IN SCOTLAND. 



sistent repetition of offences the penalties might even be 

 allowed to culminate in a power of imprisonment, if nothing 

 else would do. The sewage of towns might be dealt with 

 by ordering every town to construct sufficient purification 

 works within a certain limited period, under penalties to be 

 laid on the individual members of the Corporation for 

 failure to do so. 



In a new Salmon Act, of course, it will not be forgotten 

 to correct the careless error made in the i6th sectiqn of 

 the Act of 1868, which, while taking out of the ijth section 

 of the Act of 1862 a re-enacted provision as to pollution 

 by Sawdust, leaves half of the clause which belonged to it, 

 with the result of making it necessary to prove that poison- 

 ous matters are discharged into a river "to an extent 

 injurious to any salmon fishery," a reading which is 

 evidently absurd, but which has nevertheless done great 

 harm. 



MILL-DAMS, &c. 



Manufacturers are largely responsible for yet another 

 serious interference with salmon interests, but fortunately 

 there is reason to hope that this may soon be brought 

 within satisfactory limits. We refer to obstructions in the 

 bed of streams for milling and manufacturing purposes, 

 which prevent the fish from getting up to the spawning 

 grounds. 



Before the Act of 1862, the construction of dam dykes 

 was regulated by the Act, 1696, c. 33, which provided 

 that there should be a constant "slop" in the mid- 

 stream of each mill-dam dyke, as wide as convenient, 

 without prejudicing the going of the mill, and prohibited 

 all fishing at those dykes. The i86z Act gave power to 

 the Commissioners "to make general regulations with 



