SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 537 



MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS. 



The proviso appended to section 6 of the 1862 Act, 

 which has caused great confusion and doubt as to the 

 powers of the Commissioners to make any effective regula- 

 tions whatever, should be struck out or made intelligible ; the 

 sale, as well as the exportation (provided for by 1868 Act, 

 section 22) of fish caught by rod during the net close time 

 should be prohibited, and when salmon are sold or ex- 

 ported after close time has commenced in any district, 

 though not in others, the onus should be laid on the seller 

 or exporter of proving that they were caught in an open 

 district. Persons who may catch diseased fish should be 

 empowered, or rather ordered to destroy or bury them 

 instead of returning them to the water, and it should be 

 permitted to take salmon, as well as smolts and fry, for 

 propagating purposes, in close time, with leave of the 

 owner. A minimum penalty should be fixed, as well as a 

 maximum, and one-fourth of the maximum has been sug- 

 gested. " Parr " should be included nominatim with smolts 

 and salmon fry in the 1868 Act, section 19. The Com- 

 missioners' bye-laws should be revised, and clerical errors 

 corrected, such as "island" for "sound,"* "south" for 

 " north," f "river" for " rivers," J &c. ; and the words "of 

 the net" should be added after "top to bottom," in the 

 first section of the bye-law as to weekly close time ; the 

 river Eden, which falls into the sea within the limits of 

 the Tay district, but which is excluded on the principle 



* " Stron Beg " (Spyon Beg ?) " in the Sound of MulL" See under 

 Loch Sunart in Limits of District. 



f " A straight line drawn due north." See Kyle of Sutherland in 

 Limits of Estuary. 



t See under Tay Limits of District. 



