SALMON LEGISLA TION IN SCOTLAND. 545 



again. The Pollution Clauses in the Tweed Act are, The Tweed, 

 however, even less efficacious than those in the general 

 Acts, as it must be proved that the fish were actually killed 

 or poisoned by the noxious matter. The words should be 

 " poisonous or deleterious to salmon." The recently 

 instituted action by the riparian proprietors against the 

 Galashiels manufacturers may be expected to result in the 

 earnest though non-spontaneous efforts of the latter to 

 overcome the difficulty, and if they will only cordially 

 co-operate with each other for this purpose instead of for 

 that of resisting the generally weaker associations (as 

 regards funds) of the riparian proprietors, we do not 

 despair of very shortly witnessing a marked improvement 

 both in the fishings and in the salubrity of the district. At 

 all events they will have the consolation that the money 

 was better spent. A conjoint purification work might 

 easily be erected and kept going at comparatively little 

 expense to each manufacturer, when divided among the 

 whole. But the expense is not a necessary consideration. 

 It seems a little inconsistent that manufacturers should for 

 so long a time have been compelled to consume their own 

 smoke or render it harmless by carrying it to great heights 

 by means of enormous and costly chimneys, while they 

 should have been permitted to commit at least as great a 

 nuisance by making sewers of the rivers. It is surely as 

 much of an offence from any point of view to poison the 

 water as to poison the air. 



POACHING. 



With regard to poaching, the Special Commissioners of 

 1875 seemed to be inclined to recommend a little less 

 severity, a view with which, however, we are unable to 



VOL. I. E. 3. 2 N 



